Elon Musk’s portfolio of companies is as broad as his sensational claims regarding the conquest of Mars, Twitter (now X), and basically any of his ideas. And he has done the same with Optimus, the new android protagonist of the presentation of the Tesla Robovan.
During the event, a group of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots took to the streets. The robot is also seen in a video performing daily human tasks such as bringing a package from the front door or watering plants.
“The Optimus will walk among you – said Musk -. You will be able to approach them and they will serve you drinks. Basically, can do anything” and mentions examples such as walking his dog, taking care of his children and mowing the lawn. Although it will be available in the long term for between 20,000 and 30,000 euros: “I think this will be the largest product of any type,” says Musk.
After the presentation, live broadcast images showed people interacting with Optimus robots at tables. Despite this, the robots didn’t do much more than greet or hold glasses of drinks, deliver gifts or play rock, paper, scissors with guests. Well, they could dance too.
Tesla’s robot was not a serious product when Musk first revealed the project in 2021, when a man in a robot suit came on stage to perform a silly dance. But in 2022, the company showed off a rudimentary prototype walking gingerly across the stage.
Musk has promised that Optimus will be a “fundamental transformation for civilization.” And it has made even bigger promises to investors: that it will bring “two orders of magnitude” of potential improvement to economic output and that it can be “manufactured in very high volume, ultimately millions of units.” All this, according to Musk, would allow “a future in which there is no poverty”.
On its website, Tesla continues to look for experts who can work on the Optimus project, inviting them to create “an autonomous, bipedal, multifunctional humanoid robot capable of performing dangerous, repetitive or boring tasks. To achieve this ultimate goal, it is necessary to create large amounts of software that generate abilities of balance, navigation, perception and interaction with the physical world. “We are hiring engineers specializing in deep learning, computer vision, motion planning, controls, mechanics and general software to solve some of our toughest engineering challenges.”
Mixture of C3-PO with an Imperial soldier (because of its colors), the aesthetics of Star Wars have undoubtedly influenced the choice of Musk, a fan of the movies, although not so much of the series, which he has harshly criticized.