Tesla CEO Elon Musk concluded a highly technical AI Day event by making a bold announcement: a humanoid robotics robot.
Musk introduced Tesla Bot after a human-like robot dancer walked off the stage during Thursday's invitation only event in Palo Alto. It will be built on Tesla's Autopilot system, and it is basically a humanoid version of the car. Musk calls electric vehicles "fully-sentient robots on wheels" It might be a human-like robot!
Meet Tesla Bot. Credit: Tesla Livestream
It looks almost human-like, with two arms and two hands (and five fingers each) and two legs. It will measure 5' 8" tall and weigh in at 125 pounds. Musk said that the vehicle can only travel 5 mph and that most people can escape it if they need to: "If you can go faster than that, it will be fine."
Musk stated that it would be friendly ("ofcourse") and perform dangerous, repetitive and boring tasks "navigates an environment built for humans."
Musk reiterated that the humanoid would be equipped with a screen on its forehead and eight cameras. This is similar to the Autopilot-enabled Tesla cars. Musk said, "It's all of the same tools that we see in the vehicle."
Musk said that the bot should be able to perform tasks that humans aren't interested in. Musk gave examples of how he would use the bot in factories to retrieve bolts and attach them to cars, or in real life to go to a grocery store to buy groceries.
Musk envisions Tesla Bot being able talk to it, and Tesla Bot will be able to figure out how to communicate with it without any training. Musk said that Tesla Bot 1.0 will focus on general tasks but that the robot could eventually be used for more.
He said, "It can also be your friend." Buy one, and it could become your friend.
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Musk did not give a price range, but stated that Tesla would like to ensure the bot isn’t too expensive. The prototype will be available by next year so keep an eye out.
Musk said, "I think that this will be quite profound."
