Not even two days later the presentation of CyberOne, Xiaomi's android, as inevitable as the squeeze after coffee comes Elon Musk. The CEO of Tesla, very skilled at capturing attention, tried to put it back in the center Optimus, his humanoid robot currently in development, with revelations of new details and predictions of its spread.
“An absolute priority”
Musk dedicated an entire section of “Believing in Technology for a Better Future,” his column in the official publication of the Cyberspace Administration of China, to Optimus.
The American tycoon is not a little unbalanced, as is his custom, declaring that the Optimus project has become a top priority for Tesla, proof of this is the time he has dedicated to it in the new column.
“Today's cars are increasingly like intelligent, web-connected robots,” we read. And it is no coincidence that, in addition to cars, Tesla is also developing a humanoid robot that should see the light at the end of September 2022.
A few details about Optimus
Tesla Optimus has a height and weight similar to that of an adult, can carry or pick up heavy objects, walks quickly with small steps and the screen on his face is an interactive interface for communicating with people.
“You might wonder why we designed this robot with a pair of legs,” Musk says.
"Simple. Because human society is based on interactions between bipedal humanoids with two arms and ten fingers. So if we want a robot to adapt to the environment and be able to do what humans do, it must have more or less the same size, shape and capabilities as a human.”
How will we use them?
Tesla robots are initially intended to replace people in repetitive, boring and dangerous tasks. But Musk's vision is that they will be able to serve millions of families by doing things like cooking, cutting grass and caring for the elderly.
To achieve this, of course, two things are needed: first, robots will have to evolve to be intelligent enough. Second, that they can be mass produced.
It seems impossible today, but it isn't. Our “four-wheeled robots” (cars) have changed the way people travel and even live. One day, when we have solved the problem of self-driving cars (i.e artificial intelligence in the real world), we will extend this technology to humanoid robots as well, and they will have a much wider diffusion than cars.
Musk's predictions about Optimus
“This year we plan to launch Optimus, our first Teslabot, a humanoid robot. We will focus on improving the intelligence of this robot and solving the problem of large-scale production. Thereafter, the usefulness of humanoid robots will increase every year as production increases and costs decrease. In the future, a home robot could be cheaper than a car. Maybe, in less than a decade, people will be able to buy a robot for their elderly parents as a birthday present.”
A bit like saying "see it for yourself", but let's leave this aspect aside. It's not the time to talk about it yet :)
