Robotics Discovery in 2021

“Tesla Bot will be able to develop individuality”

Elon Musk

Android Optimus, which Elon Musk first spoke about at AI Day at the end of summer, can become for a person something more than just a device for performing boring everyday tasks like shopping. Over time, he will develop personality and become “a great companion, like C-3PO or R2D2”.

As part of the company’s transformation into something “much more than an electric car manufacturer,” Tesla spoke at an August event about work on a humanoid robot. According to preliminary information, he will be of medium height, friendly, and slow enough to be easily escaped from him if the machine revolt does occur. The AI-powered Tesla Bot will be engineered to perform routine or hazardous tasks.

At first, this news was taken more as a joke, but it turned out that the project was real, and the company had already begun to select a team of engineers. In October, Tesla recalled it once again, showing the silhouette of an android in a trailer for the company’s new engineering center in Shanghai. And yesterday, answering questions on Lex Friedman’s podcast, Musk talked a little more about the robot.

“I think the possibilities are endless. For Tesla, this is not quite a priority direction to accelerate the transition to renewable energy around the world, but an extremely useful thing for mankind is a humanoid robot capable of interacting with the world and helping in various ways”

Elon Musk

Musk confirmed that Optimus will be primarily concerned with doing “boring and monotonous work”, especially tasks where a person is at risk of injury, but also mentioned that an android can be “a very good companion,”

“Over time, he can develop a unique personality, the robots will not be the same. This personality can evolve to suit the owner, whatever you call him.”

The head of Tesla said