Elon Musk has revealed his humanoid robot as part of his electric vehicle company, Tesla at its major artificial intelligence event in September.
The robot was introduced at Tesla’s event, Tesla AI Day, on the 30th of September at the automaker’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California. The news follows Elon Musk’s original announcement in August of last year that he plans to release such a humanoid robot.
Now, a little over a year later, an audience has been shown such a development: a prototype robot named Optimus, which was seen walking in a slow yet human-like way. Reports state that the robot’s movements are a product of electromechanical joints that were inspired by human joints. The machine also waved and danced before the audience.
In a video that was played at the end, Optimus was also shown being able to carry out more practical tasks such as watering plants and moving boxes. Musk has stated that he believes commercial robots such as Optimus could redefine the economy by allowing manual work to be a choice. He has even considered that Tesla’s use of robots could one day be even more significant than its production of electric vehicles.
Elon Musk has been quoted as saying that a production model of the prototype may cost less than $20,000 (although earlier predictions of more affordable electric Tesla vehicles, which have not come to fruition, suggest that reports of low costs may not be guaranteed).
A video of Optimus being unveiled at Tesla’s AI Day can be viewed below.
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