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Elon Musk’s Tesla Unveils Humanoid Robot, Plans To Sell ‘Millions’

Published on October 3, 2022

Back in 1984, long before the reality of advanced robots, especially humanoids, Hollywood released a movie called “The Terminator”.

The premise of the flick is a cyborg assassin is sent back in time from the year 2029 to 1984 to kill a soldier, from the future, sent back in time to protect Sarah.

Yes, a good humanoid goes back in time to kill and destroy a bad robot that has been programmed to kill a human being.

Since then robots have become more integrated into the lives of millions of people.

In addition to home devices that act like personal assistants, robots have taken over the job of cleaning floors, on their own.

This has lowered the inhibitions of many who instinctively know that the mass production of autonomous humanoids could go terribly wrong.

Last Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a prototype of a humanoid “Optimus” robot that shares some AI software and sensors with its cars’ Autopilot driver assistance features.

At the start of Tesla’s 2022 AI Day presentation, Musk acknowledged that they had “a guy in a suit” last year but promised something much more impressive today.

The version of Optimus is only a prototype, but Tesla believes that a version of it will be available to consumers in the near future.

Musk predicted that in the next few years, Tesla would be able to produce millions of robots and sell them for under $20,000. “Right now we just want to make basic humanoid work well, and our goal is fastest path to a useful humanoid robot,” Musk stated.

Following Musk’s comments, the robot walked out like a movie star on the red carpet, waved, a performed a brief dance.

Tesla then played a few video clips showing the robot performing tasks like picking up boxes.

Musk then pointed out the main feature of Optimus, compared to existing humanoid robots, by stating that competitors’ robots are “missing a brain,” along with the ability to solve problems on their own.

Tesla leaders have high expectations for what Optimus will ultimately be able to accomplish. “After seeing what we’ve shown tonight,” said Milan Kovac, Tesla’s Director of Autopilot Software Engineering. “I’m pretty sure we can get this done within the next few months or years and maybe make this product a reality and change the entire economy.”

Musk has warned in the past about the potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence.

He stated his concern that a future with AI could look like something from the “Terminator” series, with supercomputers serving as “an immortal dictator from which we would never escape.”

“There’s some discrepancy between sort of the ambition and what they have presented,” said Henri Ben Amor, a robotics professor at Arizona State University. “When it comes to dexterity, speed, the ability to walk in a stable fashion and so on, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Musk largely agreed with Ben Amor’s assessment, but he believes Tesla will soon be building far more impressive robots. “There’s still a lot of work to be done to refine Optimus and prove it,” Musk said. He also added, “I think Optimus is going to be incredible in five or 10 years, like mind-blowing.”