Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a dummy of Tesla’s humanoid robot called Optimus and said his company could develop millions of them and sell them for less than $20,000.
Tesla’s first experimental test robot can wave, water plants, carry boxes and lift metal rods, but there is a simplified version that Musk calls Optimus.
Although Optimus can’t walk at the moment, there was a slow wave to the audience at the launch. Musk predicts it could be weeks away, adding that there is still a lot of work to do to refine and prove Optimus, but he believes it will be incredible and stunning and Tesla will be ready to take orders for the robot in three to five years.
Tesla’s move differentiates it from other manufacturers that have done research with humanoid robots, because Tesla would first test the robots in-house to build its own cars.
He went on to say that existing humanoid robots are brainless and incapable of solving problems on their own, but Optimus would be a high-performance robot that Tesla could produce in its millions and that could also be used in the factory.
The bot will weigh 73kg and use components from Tesla, such as a 2.3kWh battery pack carried in its torso, a chip system and actuators to drive its limbs.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
