Elon Musk’s Half-Baked Robot Is a Clunky First Step

A project that seemed to be getting up to speed was seen by some robot experts. They are doing cool stuff, but there is nothing fundamentally new. The company hasn't shown evidence that it can perform basic navigation, grasping, or manipulation. According to Jessy Grizzle, a professor at the University of Michigan who works on leggedrobots, the project appeared to be progressing well. He says going from a man in a suit to real hardware in 13 months is amazing.

Grizzle says that the expertise of the company in areas such as batteries and electric motor could help it advance robotic hardware. During the event, Musk claimed that the robot would cost $20,000, but he didn't say when it would be launched.

Musk didn't say who his customers would be, or if he would use a humanoid in its own operations. Parts of car-making that have not been automated, such as feeding wires through a dashboard or carefully working with flexible plastic parts, could be important for manufacturing if a robot capable of advanced manipulation is available.

In an industry where profits are thin and other companies are competing with each other, any edge in manufacturing could prove crucial. Companies have been attempting to automate these tasks for a long time. A four-limbed design isn't a good idea for such applications. Alexander Kernbaum is the interim director of a research institute that has previously developed a humanoid robot. He says that a focus on legs is an indication that they are looking to capture people's imaginations rather than solve real world problems.

They will be watching future demonstrations for signs of progress and evidence of the robot's manipulation skills. Staying balanced on two legs while lifting and moving an object is a challenge for humans. Grizzle says that when you don't know the mass of an object, you have to make sure your body is stable.

Despite being underwhelmed so far, Wise hopes that the project doesn't go the way of the ill-fated robotic company acquiring spree back in 2013 which sucked many researchers into projects that didn't see the light of day. Boston Dynamics, which it sold off in 2017, was one of the companies that worked on humanoids. The projects keep getting killed because they wake up one day and realize that it's hard to make a robot.