Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, said Tesla would develop a humanoid robot that could perform repetitive human tasks, with a prototype likely to be ready next year. It would tap on Tesla’s existing technology for vehicles, Musk said Thursday during an event in Palo Alto, California.
Tesla, which has delivered fewer vehicles than bigwigs like General Motors and Ford Motor Co., has dethroned rivals to become the world’s most valuable automaker as investors pour big bucks on the potential of its technology designed to mimic the way humans think.
“Tesla is much more than an electric-car company,” Mr. Musk said.
Meet Your Tesla Bot
The unexpected reveal came at the end of Tesla’s AI Day presentation, with Musk sharing few details about the Tesla Bot using more than just PowerPoint slides. The 5-foot-8 robot will weigh in at 125 pounds and be built using “lightweight materials.”
The Tesla Bot’s head will be equipped with the autopilot cameras used by Tesla’s vehicles to sense the environment .It will also contain a screen to display information. Inside, the humanoid robot will be operating via Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) computer.
“It’s intended to be friendly,” Musk joked, “and navigate through a world built for humans.”
The Tesla robot was revealed after a 90-minute presentation showcasing some of the artificial intelligence (AI) upgrades behind Tesla’s electric vehicles. The presentation also covered Dojo supercomputer, which helps train cars to navigate city streets without human assistance. “It makes sense to put that onto humanoid form,” Musk said.
Proposed specifications of the upcoming Tesla Bot were covered in three slides. Musk also pointed out during the presentation that human could both outrun the Tesla humanoid robot as well as “overpower” it. According to one of the slides, the Tesla Bot would eliminate “dangerous, repetitive, boring tasks.” Musk provided an example, suggesting the Tesla robot could be commanded to go to the store to pick up vegetables. While it’s not a dangerous tasks, it’s most likely repetitive and boring.
Elon Musk has remained a staunch opponent of the use of robots as weapons. He has even warned of the risks AI poses – once calling it the “biggest risk we face as a civilization.”
