Elon Musk claimed this week that Tesla's humanoid robot will be the “biggest product of any kind”, sparking a lively debate about when and which homes will be able to have robots.
The walking, talking Optimus robot stole the show at an event Thursday night in Los Angeles to unveil the company's Cybercar self-driving taxi.
The 6-foot-tall robot danced to techno music, served fruity cocktails and played rock, paper, scissors on stage.
Musk said the bots could do “basically anything you want,” such as mowing the lawn, cleaning the kitchen after dinner, babysitting the kids, or just being a friend, and would cost less than a car in the long run. He said it would be between $20,000 and $30,000.
Musk was quiet about the timing on Thursday, but said earlier this year that Tesla could do it. Sell humanoid robots by the end of 2025.
Nevertheless, experts are divided on whether Musk will be able to overcome the bot's many flaws in just a few years.
Dev Nag, CEO of artificial intelligence-powered support automation company QueryPal, said it will likely be more than five years before consumers see Optimus bots in their homes.
“The robot still faces challenges in areas such as walking steadily over uneven terrain, lasting all day on a single battery charge, and navigating safely around people and pets. , it's a trickier problem than you might think,'' Nag told the Post.
“While Musk is known for his ambitious schedule, most experts believe Optimus will first prove itself in factories and warehouses before it can be used in homes,” he said.
That's especially despite the incredible abilities Optimus Bot displayed Thursday night.
“How's everyone doing?” the bartender, wearing a cowboy hat and apron, calls out to his customers with the air of a Texas shut-in.
When a customer asked for a watermelon-flavored drink, Cowbot double-checked the order. “Of course you can!”
Agnieszka Pilat, a robotics artist who works closely with Boston Dynamics and Agility Robotics, agreed that deploying robots within five years is “very optimistic.”
Pilat said bots will likely first be available to billionaires and other high-status individuals within five years, but full rollout to retail stores will take about 10 years.
“It takes a long time to mass-deploy them because they are very expensive. They are not deployed. Both the software and the hardware are complex,” Pilat told the Post. “Where are the flying cars?”
Meanwhile, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who said he spoke with the Optimus robot for more than an hour Thursday night at an event in Hollywood, is almost as optimistic as Musk.
He predicts bots will be in homes by 2027.
The robot announced Thursday night will be completely “unprogrammed” and “fully autonomous,” Ives told the Post.
“What Tesla announced last night was surprising,” he said. “I think it was historic last night.”
After Musk unveiled a “Teslabot” wearing a robot suit and dancing on stage in 2021, and a prototype that needed to be supported on a stand in 2022, the Optimusbot is far more advanced than engineers expected. It was spot on.
Home robots will eventually become as common as washing machines and dishwashers, says Sean Dubravac, CEO of the Abrio Institute, which helps companies predict innovation. He said he was deaf.
But he agrees with other experts that there are many hurdles in the price range that Musk has yet to overcome.
“They are now able to perform simple tasks, but it will still take some time before they can perform complex household tasks fully autonomously,” Dubravac told the Post. . “The success of other household robots, such as washing machines and dishwashers, lies in their ability to handle individual tasks almost perfectly every time.”
Optimus could also face legal hurdles regarding safety standards, data privacy and liability in the event of a failure, Dubravac said.
Mr. Musk's Tesla is under a “very bright spotlight,” Ives acknowledged. “If there is an accident involving a robot, it will be strictly investigated.”
Optimus could face social and cultural challenges if rolled out widely, experts said. But Ives argued that tech giants have jumped these hurdles before.
“In 2007, people considered the concept of smartphones to be insane,” Ives told the Post. “Well, look where we are today.”
