At the TED event in Vancouver, Tesla CEO Musk not only talked about the acquisition of Twitter, but also revealed the production time and estimated price of Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus. In addition, he discussed with Chris Anderson the future of Optimus and humanoid robots in society.
Musk
"You know, the first products we (Tesla) tend to make are jobs that are dangerous, boring, repetitive, and things that people don't want to do," Musk told Anderson.
Musk estimates that Tesla will be showcasing an "interesting prototype" of the Optimus robot sometime this year, and that by 2023 "there may be something useful." He predicts that Tesla will see growth in the humanoid robot project over the next two years. Musk believes that by around 2025, the utility of Optimus will grow rapidly year by year.
Tesla humanoid robot
During their conversation, Anderson and Musk imagined how Optimus would function in a home environment rather than a work environment. Anderson refers to Tesla's humanoid robot as some sort of personal butler. Musk calls Optimus more of a buddy robot with many useful applications and forms, including becoming a Catwoman.
As the useful features of humanoid robots expand, Musk believes Tesla will see costs fall, while Tesla will expand the production scale of Optimus. As for the price of Optimus, Musk once said: "I don't think the cost is actually going to be ridiculously high, such as the price of less than a car." ”
Unfortunately, Musk did not specify the make or model of the car. However, Anderson thinks it is about $25,000 (about 160,000 yuan).
Musk
Anderson then raised the question that many have been pondering since Tesla launched Optimus: How it will affect the jobs market, though Musk has repeatedly said that Optimus will initially be used for dangerous, monotonous jobs. However, as Tesla's humanoid robot acquires more advanced capabilities, some wonder about its impact on the job market.
Anderson believes that the price of humanoid robot workers is much lower per year compared to human employees. In addition, human workers can't work as long hours as humanoid robots and don't want to go on vacation.
"I'm not going to worry about making people unemployed," Musk replied. "I think we're actually going to have and already have a lot of labor shortages. So I don't think we're going to put people out of work, and actually there may still be a shortage of labor even in the future. ”