Tesla’s new humanoid robot, called Optimus, promises to change the way people use technology in their daily lives. With Elon Musk’s blessing, Optimus took the stage at a Tesla event in 2022. This humanoid robot is an essential element of the company’s audacious strategy to implant artificial intelligence into households and offices worldwide.
Elon Musk imagines Optimus as being able to exceed the importance of Tesla’s passenger vehicle industry. He believes that “the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business, over time.” This audacious promise hints at Musk’s long-term aspirations for the bot. It’s not only designed to amuse, but to upend countless facets of our everyday lives.
Optimus has already introduced itself in Tesla showrooms and on factory floors, flexing its capabilities through hot viral videos. The Harvard biorobotics platform has grabbed world headlines with the incredible agility of its robot, accomplishing these kinds of jumps, bounds, flips and backflips. As if that weren’t enough to keep the public’s attention, in a shocking twist, it even made its way into Kim Kardashian’s garden, stealing headlines again.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Optimus is controlled by an individual wearing a virtual reality headset. This groundbreaking control approach opens exciting new possibilities for real-time user engagement with the robot, resulting in a more interactive and adaptive robot. At a $20,000 price point, Optimus is set up to be a luxury item targeting high-end consumers who want cutting-edge assistance in the home.
Optimus first drew attention through playful demonstrations that amazed onlookers. It is the perfect move to parallel Tesla’s plans to cement their legacy within the emerging artificial intelligence paradigm. Musk stated, “Tesla AI might play a role in AGI, given that it trains against the outside world, especially with the advent of Optimus.” This kind of open collaboration can set a standard for how emerging AI-powered technologies should be developed responsibly and ethically.
As part of his compensation agreement, Musk is tasked with delivering one million AI bots, including Optimus, over the next decade. This lofty target requires, as President Biden said, all the technology in the world but a strong manufacturing base. Analysts say falling component costs are making humanoid robots like Optimus more possible. They further attribute this progress to breakthroughs in robot dexterity. Forrester analyst Brian Hopkins noted, “If current trajectories hold, humanoid robots could disrupt many physical-service industries significantly by 2030.”
Whether or not Tesla’s introduction of Optimus will be groundbreaking remains to be seen, as other companies are clearly working on similar technologies. According to news reports, Foxconn intends to use humanoid robots such as Optimus at its Nvidia factory in Texas. These types of initiatives are indicative of a much larger movement towards automation and robotics across multiple industries.
Some experts warn the possibilities for humanoid robots shouldn’t be overstated. Yet, they’re concerned that society isn’t ready for their widespread adoption. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, thinks humanoids like Optimus represent an “incoming moment.” At the same time, he understands that the rest of the world may need more time to catch up to these breakthroughs.