Tesla CEO Elon Musk has demonstrated the working prototype of the company’s humanoid robot called Optimus at the Tesla AI Day event — which he believes could one day become more important than the company’s electric cars.
A test prototype without an outer casing took the stage, waved to the audience and did a little dance. Tesla is targeting a price of around $20,000 for Optimus.
The robot was developed in February 2022, Musk said. He showed a video of how the 73-kilogram robot performed simple tasks like carrying boxes, watering flowers, or lifting metal bars at a plant in California.
It will include a battery with a capacity of 2.3 kW/h, a microcircuit system and actuators for controlling limbs. Musk expressed hope that Tesla will begin taking orders for Optimus in the next three to five years.
However, the Optimus prototype moved far more awkwardly than Boston Dynamics’ more familiar humanoid robots, which can run, dance, and jump. Although, Musk sees the advantage of the Optimus in the fact that it can use the technology of the autopilot driver assistance system, which the Tesla cars use, to recognize its surroundings.
