Tesla Shows Prototype Humanoid Optimus Robot

During the Tesla 2022 AI Day presentation Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a prototype humanoid Optimus robot that uses some artificial intelligence software.

Tesla was the first to show off a deconstructed Optimus, which Tesla calls "Bumble C." He walked forward and danced. Musk admitted that for safety reasons, the robot didn't make too many movements on stage.

Tesla then unveiled another prototype very close to production. Employees took it to the stage. According to Musk, the robot has actuators, a battery and everything else, but it is "not quite ready to walk." Engineers hope to remove the additional hurdles in the design "within the next few months... or years."

As for the bot's device, it contains a 2.3 kWh battery, runs on a Tesla SoC processor, has Wi-Fi and LTE.

The company has also paid attention to the functioning of the robot's joints. The data for each joint is processed and then searched for common areas in each structure to find a method that uses only six different actuators. according to the engineers, the robots will be able to pick up objects of different shapes and sizes, hold a bag of 20 objects and perform "precision grip" of small parts.

The robot uses reconfigured Tesla Autopilot software for use in unknown environments. Using recordings of people performing certain tasks, such as picking up boxes, Tesla applied inverse kinematics to teach its robot movements and then used "online motion adaptation" to adapt it to the right environment.

Musk said:

It'll be a fundamental transformation for civilization as we know it.

Musk first announced the Tesla bot at last year's Artificial Intelligence Day, promising it would be "friendly" and potentially revolutionise the company's assembly lines and manufacturing business.

Musk said production could start as early as next year, with a price tag of "probably less than $20,000."