At the We Robot conference in California, Elon Musk unveiled the new Tesla robot Optimus, which he claims is capable of performing a variety of tasks.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, explained that Optimus is designed to assist in household chores, such as carrying items, serving dishes, interacting with the environment through touch and carrying, as well as taking care of children, dogs, and plants. However, during the conference, Optimus robots were unable to demonstrate these skills, as their presentation was limited to walking among the audience and offering drinks and gifts, with some robots inside a glass room performing dance routines to music.
Musk revealed that the cost of Optimus will range from twenty to thirty thousand dollars in the long term, indicating that he had promised investors earlier this year that the robot would be ready to perform “useful tasks” by the end of this year, with expectations of entering the market next year.
Optimus is Tesla’s main entry into the human-like robot market, which is rapidly evolving in conjunction with the revolution in artificial intelligence technologies. Many companies have recently entered this market, such as the startup 1X, which introduced a robot named NEO Beta that resembles Optimus and is characterized by its smooth movements and ability to carry objects securely.
Boston Dynamics also announced a new version of their humanoid robot Atlas, which performs acrobatic movements and features unprecedented motion control. In addition, Figure AI unveiled their robot Figure 02, which has already begun practical use in a BMW factory in Germany.
In this context, Carol Hausman, one of the founders of Physical Intelligence and its CEO, stated that they are striving to provide practical applications for artificial intelligence through a general AI model that can operate any robot.
Physical Intelligence is considered one of the promising companies in the robot market, aiming to develop artificial intelligence that rivals human capabilities through advanced AI models. The startup has received investments worth seventy million dollars from prominent investors, including OpenAI, Sequoia Capital, and Khosla Ventures, with the goal of building a general-purpose robotic system for various purposes.
