Tesla has been building the future by developing new technologies. CHIEF EXECUTIVE ELON. Elon Musk has re-emphasized that the bipedal robot Optimus will eventually be more valuable than the automotive business and fully autonomous driving (FSD).
In August 2021, on Tesla AI Day, Elon Musk unveiled the humanoid robot and said it would be a universal machine that performs a wide range of tasks. At a Giga Texas launch on April 7 this year, Musk said Tesla could start producing the first version of the robot in 2023.
On the 2021 earnings call, Musk tried to explain the importance of the company's new developments. He said that in terms of product priority, humanoid robots will be Tesla's most important product development this year. In addition, Musk explained that over time, Optimus has the potential to become more important than the automotive business.
He said at the time: "So, in terms of product prioritization, I think the most important product development we're doing this year is actually Optimus Optimus Prime." I think over time, this has the potential to be more important than the automotive business. ”
Musk also explained the real importance of the new product. He believes that Tesla robots will become a universal alternative to human labor, because labor is the foundation of any economy. Robots will also alleviate labor shortages due to a significant drop in the birth rate, which will become a real problem in the future.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) Board Summit in December 2021, Musk said: "Over time, Tesla robots have the potential to become a universal alternative to human labor. The economy is based on labor. Capital equipment is essentially a refined workforce ... The most basic constraint is labor. Not enough people. I can't stress it too much. Not enough people. I think for civilized society, I think one of the biggest risks facing civilization is the low birth rate and the rapidly declining birth rate. ”
Given the importance of Optimus Prime, it is clear that it will fundamentally change the daily lives of human beings and will be a huge breakthrough. However, people haven't realized this yet, and this was noticed by Musk. He said on the first quarter 2022 earnings call: "I'm surprised people don't realize the importance of the 'Optimus' robotics program. ”
Musk reiterates once again that in the coming years, Optimus Prime will show its true importance. He believes optimus prime projects will ultimately be worth more than the company's automotive business and FSD. "Those who have insight or listen carefully will understand that Optimus Prime will ultimately be more valuable than the automotive industry, than FSD," he said at the time. ”
This humanoid robot is 1.73 meters tall, weighs 57 kilograms and has a maximum speed of 8 km / h. The company is developing a friendly robot, and Tesla is extra cautious because Musk worries that robots may be smarter than humans. Tesla robots will be specifically designed to be slow and not too powerful, so if something goes wrong, humans can still escape it or subdue it.
Musk said: "What we set is that on a mechanical and physical level, you can escape it and probably overcome it. Hopefully this will never happen, but you never know if it will happen. ”
The Tesla robot will be made of lightweight materials with human agility thanks to 40 mechanical drives: 12 on the arms, 12 on the hands, 12 on the legs, 2 on the torso, and 2 on the neck. It will also have two shaft feet for balance and force feedback sensing.
Its head will have a screen showing useful information. The Tesla robot will be equipped with 8 Autopilot cameras, FSD hardware, multi-camera video neural networks, neural network programming, auto-labeling, simulation and tools, and Dojo training. This means that it will be able to move independently in the environment without programming a specific route. Eventually, Tesla robots will be able to execute all sorts of commands given to it, from simple requests to more tedious tasks such as going to a store to buy groceries and more.