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Summary
In August 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the electric car manufacturer was planning to get into the robot business. Musk has now unveiled a prototype of the robot, called Optimus, which he hopes to mass-produce and sell for less than $20,000
Based on what we saw in the Tesla presentation, Optimus is a long way from being able to operate with humans or in human environments. Musk’s knack for gaining attention may also be helpful not only for attracting talent to the project, but also to drum up interest among consumers.
Show Notes
Unlike industrial robots, humanoid robots might be able to move around and interact with humans.
Unlike robot vacuum cleaners, they might be able to go up stairs or traverse uneven terrain.
The capabilities of the robot showcased fall far short of the state of the art in humanoid robotics.
There was also no sign in the Optimus presentation of how it will interact with humans.
Sceptical consumersOthers have tried to build and sell humanoid robots in the past, such as Honda’s ASIMO and SoftBank’s Pepper.
