From the technological genius of Elon Musk, here is a new gem that could, for better or for worse, change some of our habits: the Tesla Bot, renamed Optimus . This is a new revolutionary humanoid robot project which should help us carry out heavy and repetitive work. Presented in August 2021 during Tesla AI Day, the Bot, now renamed Project Optimus , aroused a lot of curiosity and questions. At AI Day 2022 on October 1, 2022, Elon Musk presented the evolutionary progress of the ambitious humanoid automaton project. It is no longer a dancer in a suit and helmet disguised as a robot, as in 2021: the Optimus prototype presented to the public was real and functional, it can move different parts of the body, letting us understand the vast potential of a platform that aims to replace men in difficult or dangerous work.
What is Tesla Bot Optimus?
Optimus, that's his name, is a humanoid robot , that is to say a robot that has the appearance and movements of human beings: as Elon Musk says directly, Bot was created by humans for humans (we are, however, still far from the Nexus 6 replicators of Blade Runner...) and its The primary goal is to carry out in our name (and under our supervision) all these tedious, dangerous and/or repetitive activities which we do without all voluntarily.
Excluding any type of dystopian exaggeration, Bot will by nature have a friendly approach and will never be able to cause harm or create dangerous situations: on this last point, no useful elements have been provided to evaluate a possible possibility of hacking or piracy. reprogramming which allows activities not planned by the designers to be carried out: for example, the force and speed are calibrated so that a human can always take physical control of their robot.
Directly quoting Musk's words: "I think in the future, physical labor will basically be a choice, if you want to do it, you can." Bot will be good, he will live in a world made for humans, eliminating dangerous, repetitive and boring tasks. Must be able to execute commands as naturally as possible. Even while shopping. »
Features-wise, Bot is around 1.73 m tall and weighs 57 kg; it is capable of moving at around 8 km/h; As for the load capacities, it is capable of carrying weights of 20 kg and lifting up to almost 70 kg .
Optimus is powered by 2.3 kWh batteries, which provide sufficient autonomy for a day of work. The most sophisticated part are the hands, which exactly replicate those of humans, with opposable thumbs to grip objects gently or forcefully. The humanoid robot is equipped with 12 motors, equally distributed across the arms and legs, and two actuators that move the torso and neck. The head is actually a screen that displays information. Optimus moves using artificial intelligence based on that of Autopilot in Tesla cars, using a chip designed with Wi-Fi and LTE modules for wireless connection, as well as a sound card and audio components. security.
The Optimus prototype presented by Elon Musk at AI Day 2022
How the Tesla Bot humanoid robot works
A high level of integration with the human world can only be possible in the presence of a large number of sensors and actuators (see overview of Spatial Computing), and we can be sure that from this point of view, Tesla really did things stylishly on a grand scale.
Head
Let's start with the head, where a high-resolution screen is incorporated that serves both to provide information and to give Bot a pseudo-human appearance (let's remember Bot's friendly temperament, who knows, maybe he will even smile at us). In this position, an unspecified number of cameras and sensors for the spatial orientation of the Bot will also be installed.
Screw up
The torso, which is also the most robust and protected part, contains all the electronics necessary for control and from there, like a real nervous system, all the connections (who knows if we can speak of synapses) go to and from from sensors and actuators. Obviously, all the knowledge and experience Tesla has developed regarding self-driving cars is concentrated in the torso: in particular, all the hardware is based on the chip. FSD (Full Self-Driving, already known as AutoPilot Hardware, is in fact a SoC -System On Chip- for which Tesla claims to be able to operate at autonomy levels 4 and 5) developed by Tesla to support the neural network and be able to manage all the data it produces.
Board computer
The FSD calculator is equipped with a series of tools and simulators capable of carrying out a kind of predictive analysis to support the on-board AI: it should be noted that all training, and future behavioral updates, will be carried out through the system. Dojo still developed from scratch by Tesla.
Without going into the details of Dojo, which would deserve a separate discussion on their own, it is a project of machine learning and neural networks which, by capturing a huge amount of data, are capable of learning, and in turn to teach, operating exclusively at video level and therefore without the need for supervision (Tesla declares a computing power equal to 1 exaFLOP corresponding to 1,000 petaFLOP). ).
Actuators
There are around forty electromechanical actuators and they allow the robot not only to move and/or manipulate objects, but also to do so with excellent fluidity. The actuators will be distributed over the structure in this way:
- Neck: 2
- Arms: 12
- Hands: 12
- Bust: 2
- Legs and feet: 12
Feet
The feet have a two-axis structure that fundamentally contributes to balance and will be equipped with sensors for feedback on the force applied.
Sensors
In terms of sensors, we have already mentioned the inevitable very high definition cameras, we can certainly detect the presence of:
- a series of environmental sensors such as microphones, thermometers (it would be interesting to know if your fingers are equipped with them), barometers;
- Lidar for the detection of objects and/or obstacles which constitute the laser complement of vision cameras;
- 9-axis position sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope and geomagnetic) used for balance;
- force detectors.
Video: Elon Musk presents Tesla Bot at Tesla AI Day 2021
What is the price of Tesla Bot Optimus?
In terms of pricing, the various technology commentators are putting the following hypotheses on the table (prepare to smile at the scale of the range):
- equipping your Tesla with an FSD system costs around $10,000, estimating a similar cost for the structure and state-of-the-art hardware (therefore excluding FSD) opens a range of $15,000/20,000;
- comparing the robot with products from other manufacturers, which today only identify with Boston Dynamic, we are talking about around 75,000 dollars for infinitely less intelligent products; this brings the estimate to over 100 thousand dollars.
- according to other sources, in addition to the initial cost of the robot, there will be a subscription to add, the amount of which will vary depending on the functions/capabilities with which you wish to equip your robot.
In April 2022, Musk said the Tesla Bot could "cost less than a car." that is, less than 25 thousand dollars.
In winter 2022, he revised these estimates downward, stating that Optimus would cost, once put into production, less than 20 thousand dollars.
Regardless of the total purchase cost, the hypothesis that Optimus could also be purchased with Elon Musk's most expensive cryptocurrencies seems increasingly credible: Bitcoin and DogeCoin .
The Tesla Optimus bot is not just a publicity stunt
Many people are evaluating the impacts that this disruptive AI could have on our daily lives, following the old adage “knowing you can do it doesn't mean you should do it”.
There are two main negative aspects which must necessarily be taken into consideration: the first linked to a potential reduction in both costs and jobs (to the point that Musk mentions the desirable creation of an economic support fund for disadvantaged people due to the adoption of the robot in general).
The second, however, is linked to the risks arising from excessive innovation, particularly in the field of AI and machine learning. These risks, which are difficult to quantify but easily identifiable, are often referred to as “orphans”.
From a preliminary study carried out by a group of experts, it appears that Tesla's robot presents a wide portfolio of "orphan risks": ranging from the privacy of the owners (the robot also collects, manages and operates on the basis of sensitive data from people it interacts with), the emotional impact of interacting with a humanoid robot, the inevitable lack of ethics and ideology of a robot (think for example if it is responsible for carrying out a public order service in the presence of troublemakers).
There are also indirect risks, already mentioned previously, linked to the possibility of hacking both to increase the performance of the robot (without adequately assessing the risks that may arise) and to overcome the limitations imposed during the design phase.
Video: Elon Musk speaks at TED 2022
When will Optimus, Elon Musk's robot, be available ?
Regarding availability, there is no certain data yet.
In April 2022, Musk announced the arrival of an "interesting" prototype of the robot I enter 2022, and he kept his promise. The project will develop over the next two years and from 2025 it will experience rapid growth year on year.
Video
Update
December 2023: Optimus demonstration in a laundry room
Optimus has demonstrated its ability to fold laundry, as shown in a video shared by CEO Elon Musk. However, it is important to note that the robot is not yet capable of performing this task autonomously. The demonstration was a predefined activity, with the robot performing the prescribed movements to complete the task. The video showed the robot folding a T-shirt on a fixed-height table, with the garment placed in a carefully placed basket.
Despite current limitations, Musk said he is confident that Optimus will eventually be able to perform such tasks completely autonomously and in arbitrary environments. He also indicated that Tesla has ambitious goals for Optimus, with the company expecting the robot to be able to perform more complex tasks, such as threading a needle, by the end of 2024.
It should be noted, however, that these are future projections and that the current state of the robot's capabilities does not yet allow it to fold laundry autonomously. So it’s not yet time to assign laundry folding tasks to the Optimus Bot
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