Tesla revealed its Optimus robotic bot at Artificial Intelligence Day 2022 today, and Elon Musk believes Tesla can bring it to market for “under $20,000.”
As expected, the event began with Tesla unveiling a working prototype of its humanoid robot – a project first announced at Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence Day in 2021.
Two prototypes were revealed at the event.
Tesla started by unveiling the Bumble C, the first version of the robot and developed with “semi-ready” triggers. It served as a test bed for the first Tesla robot developed with internal parts.
Here is a picture of Bumble C as she walked on stage at the event:
She didn’t do anything impressive on stage, but she was able to walk around and wave to the crowd.
Tesla showed some videos of the robot performing some tasks in a controlled environment to prove a certain level of interest.
The automaker even showed the robot performing a task at an actual workstation in the Fremont factory.
But after Bumble C, Tesla brought the first generation of robot Optimus.
The reason Tesla didn’t go ahead and show off an earlier, more ruthless prototype is because it couldn’t really make the new model walk yet.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the new robot should be able to walk within the next few weeks, but he wanted to show it off today because it looks more like the version of the robot that will go into production:
Nor could he do much on stage other than wave at the crowd and had to be carried by Tesla employees.
Musk noted that this version is equipped with Tesla-designed starters, a battery pack and power electronics.
Tesla revealed that it had its first prototype back in February of 2022, leading to this new version that is now supposed to run in the next few days.
Tesla has shared some Optimus specs, including a 2.3 kWh battery pack, which the automaker claims should be good for about a day’s worth of work.
As Tesla announced last year, it’s also equipped with the same “self-driving computer” inside Tesla cars:
After the presentation on the main specifications and features of the robot, Tesla moved on to a more in-depth presentation on the approach of the robot and artificial intelligence to its development.
Once again, Tesla AI Day is all about recruiting, and Tesla is basically showing off what it’s working on to help attract talent who might be interested in these details.
On a consumer level, Musk highlighted the fact that while people have seen a lot of impressive robots before, he insists that Tesla’s efforts are different because it focuses on developing a robot that is mass-manufactured — as opposed to one-off projects. . I saw him in the past.
Furthermore, Musk said Tesla’s advantage is that its robot will be powered by AI, which was primarily developed for self-driving technology. He believes that Tesla will be able to take advantage of this work to enable the robot to navigate the real world and perform useful tasks.
The CEO reiterated previous comments about how Optimus could bring about “fundamental change to civilization as we know it” by virtually “ending poverty” by improving economic output when used in industry.
He believes the robot will cost “less than $20,000” to make. He has not updated the production schedule, but has previously said that Tesla plans to produce as soon as next year.
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