Optimistic About “Optimus”
The New AI Robot From Tesla
At 2022 Tesla AI Day, Elon Musk gave the public its first look at his company's humanoid robot nicknamed Optimus.
Tesla recently revealed a prototype of a humanoid robot, called Optimus, that could be a future product for the automaker. Elon Musk’s track record at Tesla is impressive enough that I’m ready to preorder my Optimus! The project has gone from an idea to an untethered robot in a year because Musk has a talent for picking businesses that are difficult but attainable, finding engineers up for the challenge, and providing them an environment where they expect to make a difference.
Optimus walked untethered but stiffly on stage at Tesla’s AI Day, slowly waved to the crowd and gestured with its hands for about a minute. Tesla also showed videos of its robot performing simple tasks like carrying boxes and watering plants with a watering can.
Not the first, but…
Tesla isn’t the first automaker to develop a humanoid robot. Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics robots have been doing back flips and performing sophisticated dance routines without a tether. And Honda worked on robots called “Asimo” for nearly 20 years. In its final form, Asimo was a child-size humanoid robot capable of untethered walking, running, climbing and descending stairs, and manipulating objects with its fingers.
Last year, Tesla introduced Optima as some presentation slides and a robot-costumed human dancer. One year later, watching an untethered Tesla Bot walking across the stage was impressive.
He’s now estimating that it'll be three to five years before the first Optimus goes on sale. In the domain of technology, that’s an eternity. If his vision holds true, though, it could transform the world as profoundly as the automobile or smartphone.
Don’t Write This Off!
Tesla has been rigorously working on a bipedal robot and the artificial intelligence technology required to make it relevant. And much of Tesla's track record of genuine achievements in electric vehicle engineering and manufacturing applies to Optimus. Tesla maintains that Optimus’ advantage over competitors will be its ability to navigate independently using technology developed from Tesla’s driver-assistance system, as well as cost savings from what it has learned about manufacturing from its automotive division.
On stage at AI Day, a pre-Optimus prototype called Bumble-C shuffled, waved, pumped its arms and flexed at the waist. It was unspectacular by some standards, but also the result of less than a year's work.
In that time, Tesla is:
Designing its own actuators, tightly packaged sets of gears, motors, sensors and controls that act like human muscles.
Drawing lessons from human anatomy, for example, employing a hinging mechanism similar to the human knee that adapts an actuator's differing needs for strength or speed depending on how far the knee is bent.
Using an AI system that converts camera input data into a 3D map of everything around a robot.
Building its own custom data center technology, Dojo, to train the multiple AI systems that go into a vehicle or robot.
Combining a physics model that simulates a virtual robot with real-world sensor data that gauges how the robot is actually performing.
AI Is Essential On Optimus
Optimus faces a challenge that Tesla cars do not: It requires AI for everything it does, and it has to work from the start. The AI challenge is harder with robots.
Self-driving cars encounter an extensive variety of situations. Even the same road intersection can be very different if it's raining, under construction or blocked by a stalled car. The diversity of situations robots could encounter is vastly broader. Imagine how different one home is from the one next door. Then expand that idea to businesses, sidewalks and farms.
A Variety of Opinions
The response from the robotics world has been mixed, and ranges from unimpressed to encouraged to excited.
“For me, the most worrisome part of last night’s presentation was not the lack of a world-beating demo, but a lack of recognition of what would even be required.”
“Great credit to the engineering team who pulled it off, of course, but I’m not seeing anything particularly impressive here that can be attributed specifically to Elon or Tesla.”
“The sense I’m getting is that Optimus isn’t as bad as people thought, but also, nobody [in the robotics community] is very impressed or surprised by any of the tech.”
“Optimus Reveal: Mind blown with the velocity of the team and the very sleek hardware design elements. Yet to see autonomy.”
“Huge kudos to the Tesla team for putting the Optimus prototype together this quickly. But it’s only about 5% of the way to what’s being sold.”
“An extraordinarily brave live demonstration of a herculean effort that sadly lacks novelty and imagination. Hopefully we will see a course correction by the time of next year’s event.”
“Looking at the Tesla Bot as a roboticist, I am impressed by what the engineers achieved for this prototype in a year…What excites me is the idea of cheap and accessible hardware!”
“What was most impressive to me was what the Optimus team was able to accomplish in such a short period of time. The prototype they have created will serve as an excellent beginning platform for them to learn from and to build upon.”
“Overall, the current design is a very good first step. Interest in building such systems is welcome because Tesla and Elon Musk’s involvement in the problem brings attention, talent, and resources to the problem, setting in motion a flywheel of progress.”
Why An Optimus Robot?
Musk's explanation for building Optimus seems rather opportunistic: Tesla has the expertise, so it might as well. However, he does say he hopes Optimus will "help millions of people.” In his most optimistic moment, he said robots could usher in "a future of abundance, a future where there is no poverty, where people can have anything they want in terms of products and services. It really is a fundamental transformation of civilization as we know it."
Will robots provide an end to poverty in the foreseeable future? Maybe not. But today's Optimus has taken big steps, literally and figuratively, from last year's debut as just an idea. I’m excited for what lies ahead. What would you like your robot to do for you?