Elon Musk unveiled a "close to production" prototype of Tesla’s humanoid robot on Friday—the good news is we probably don’t have to fear a machine uprising anytime soon; the bad news is we probably also will have to keep doing our own chores for a while longer, at least.
What happened: Tesla’s Optimus robot had to be wheeled onto the stage at the company’s AI Day event before taking a few steps and waving to the crowd.
- Despite the robot’s limitations today, Musk said it will soon be able to walk on its own, though it does not yet have “the intelligence to navigate the world.”
- The Tesla CEO said his ultimate vision is for the robot to easily handle even the most difficult of manual labour, including moving a grand piano.
Yes, but: Even assuming the robot eventually works well, its ideal use case is still murky.
- Musk has in the past said Optimus units would be used to automate Tesla’s vehicle factories, but has since conceded that “excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake.”
- Now Tesla appears to be pitching the machines to a broader audience, including consumers, forecasting a price point below $20,000 and highlighting its ability to do household chores.
Why it matters: A general-purpose, affordably-priced robot capable of handling a broad range of jobs would be a game changer for labour markets, on par (at least) with innovations like the industrial factory and the assembly line.
- The question isn’t whether Optimus would dramatically reshape the economy and society, but whether Tesla can successfully build it.
- Other companies like Boston Dynamics, which have been working on humanoid robots for many years, have a big head start on Tesla in the race to build a functional machine—though Tesla’s work on self-driving tech may accelerate development of the robot.
Bottom line: You’ll need to move your own piano for the foreseeable future. Musk said Optimus will be for sale within five years, but he also has a habit of overshooting predicted timelines for bold projects—the promise of fully self-driving cars by 2020, for example, is not yet a reality.