Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, inaugurated Tesla AI Day 2022 by showing off the most exciting innovation of the event, “Optimus”. At its second annual event, Tesla unveiled a working robot, albeit one that was a little unsteady and with exposed cables. It was functioning for the first time without “any support, cranes, mechanical mechanisms or cables”, according to Musk. The ultimate version of this robot will be able to balance itself while walking, carry a 20-pound backpack, operate tools, and have a tiny robot-specific precise grasp. A Tesla staffer claimed that the Bumble C prototype’s 2.3 kilowatt-hour battery pack was “perfect for about a full day’s worth of work.”
Essentially, Tesla is perfectly poised to advance in the field of humanoid robotic. Their expertise in batteries, industry and AI due to their electric vehicles venture has placed them in an excellent position to keep innovating in the field. Tesla said that it is utilising its energy products and employing those parts, including battery management, for the bot. The Tesla bot uses the same supercomputer as the Tesla cars. Additionally, Tesla is using for the bot the same technology and software that it uses for its autopilot. The Tesla robot also has hardware-level security measures, audio support, and wireless communication, all of which, according to the firm, are “important to protect both the robot and the people around the robot.”
The price point for the bot is expected to be about $20.000 when it rolls out, according to Musk. However, Tesla has asked shareholders to temper their expectations. The technology will take a long time to develop it properly and to roll out.
Korosec, K. (n.d.). *Tesla’s robot is a real robot now, not just a guy in a suit | TechCrunch*. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/30/teslas-robot-is-a-real-robot-now-not-just-a-guy-in-a-suit/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHY7HV9x4XgtXa-lWKjCKNSaLPKrN5bH7W0BQk9010LllaAEqEpI4Mw8bFinizJTe3PfVJWFJrha0_8UxM9tJEaYEZZBMnWKoMJXdQLMogNCKMMmpGrAIKiE4-BobHrcw1hTwZyN1wCI0OLJrXVJ7-pFAOeLQtncwxeXpt0U7Kjq
*Elon Musk unveils humanoid ‘Optimus’ robot at Tesla’s AI Day | Tesla | The Guardian*. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/30/tesla-optimus-humanoid-robot-elon-musk-ai-day
Interesting blog post about the Tesla bot and a good overview of what has been mentioned during Tesla AI day (yes I have watched the event myself as well). In addition to what you have written some more interesting mentions:
The Tesla bot is expected to take around 3 to 5 years development before mass production. Since Tesla has much experience from its cars that it can use, and the Tesla robot will have less parts then the car, the average production price of Optimus can be significantly lower than the cars (while its economic output can be significantly larger). In terms of innovation strategy, it is noteworthy that they developed two robots simultaneously, Bumble C and the second version. While Bumble C only took half a year to develop in a working prototype, the second version has been in development for about a year now. This innovation strategy insures that Tesla can implement new iterative innovations into newer version, while keeping the pace of innovation high. It also insured that a working prototype (of less quality) was finished before the event, while the second iteration already has observable improvements implemented.
Overall a nice blogpost!