Tesla will build a humanoid robot called Tesla Bot, CEO Elon Musk said Thursday.
“We’re also good at sensors and batteries and we’ll probably have a prototype next year that looks like this,” Musk said shortly after an actor in a body suit designed to look like the Tesla robot turned wild in the stage. He remarked that the actor was not a real robot, but “the Tesla Bot will be real.”
The announcement was made as part of AI Day, a series of technology talks organized by Tesla in California to recruit machine learning talent.
The Tesla Bot is an example of a Musk exhibit, in which it announces that Tesla is working on exciting products programmed for years into the future to energize sponsors, including employees, customers, and investors. Often, these ads don’t run on the scheduled timeline.
For example, at an “Autonomy Day” event in April 2019, Musk said the company would have a million autonomous “robotaxis” on the road by 2020. These robotaxis can’t be seen anywhere. In October 2016, Musk held an event at Universal Studios ’Solar in Los Angeles to showcase a product he called Solar Roof. The solar tiles shown turned out to be merely conceptual.
If a humanoid robot works and can perform repetitive tasks that only humans can do today, Musk said, it has the opportunity to transform the global economy by reducing labor costs.
Still, Musk warned that the robot “probably won’t work” at first.
“It’s meant to be kind, of course, and navigate a human world and eliminate dangerous, repetitive, and boring tasks,” Musk said.
Musk said the robot, called “Optimus,” is based on the same chips and sensors that Tesla cars use for automatic driving functions. It is five feet eight inches tall and has a screen where the head is located for useful information, Musk said. Tesla designs it so that humans can escape the robot or overcome it.
The slides Tesla showed on Thursday show that the autopilot cameras will be installed on the robot’s head. He will be able to carry 45 pounds, lift 150 pounds and weigh 125 pounds. It can run 5 miles per hour, Musk said.
Musk said the robot was not meant to help make Tesla, but Tesla is developing many of the computers needed for robotics, so it makes sense for Tesla to build a robot.
“You know, please go to the store and take the following groceries with me,” Musk said.