The boss of Tesla and Space X aims for a robot that will eventually cost “probably less than $20,000”and will be designed to be replicated in “million units”.
Elon Musk presented two prototypes of the humanoid robot Optimus on Friday, September 30, which his company Tesla hopes to produce one day by «millions» pour “transform civilization” and build a “future of abundance” where poverty will be gone.
“Bumble C”, an early version of the robot, arrived cautiously on the Californian stage where the annual “Tesla AI Day” conference was held on the company’s progress in artificial intelligence. The robot sketched a hand salute and video showed it bringing a package to an employee and watering plants. Employees also rolled out a more advanced Optimus prototype, with fewer exposed cables but still unable to walk on its own.
Elon Musk acknowledged that other organizations have designed more sophisticated robots, but “they lack a brain and they don’t have the necessary intelligence to move on their own (…) And they are very expensive”, he said. The boss of Tesla aims for a robot which, in time, will cost “probably less than $20,000”and will be designed to be replicated in “million units”. The conference should be used to recruit more engineers to achieve this goal, and so “fundamentally transform civilization”.
It means a future of abundance, a future where there is no poverty, where people will have what they want in terms of products and services. »
Elon Musk
The multi-billionaire presented in 2021 this project for a robot that can perform repetitive tasks instead of humans. “It means a future of abundance, a future where there is no poverty, where people will have what they want in terms of products and services”detailed the boss of SpaceX (rockets) and Neuralink (brain implants), never stingy with extraordinary promises.
According to him, he is “essential” that the company building this robot is listed on the stock exchange, “because if the public doesn’t like what Tesla is doing, the public can buy stock and vote differently”. “It’s very important that I can’t just do what I want”, he added, laughing, a comment that echoes the conflict between him and Twitter and should lead to a trial in mid-October. Elon Musk signed a contract to take over the social network in the spring, before reconsidering his decision in July. The platform is suing him to force him to honor his commitment. Elon Musk had said he wanted to make Twitter a private company (not listed on the stock exchange), which would therefore escape any external control.