Elon Musk: Unveiling the Tesla Bot - Everything you must know
August 20, 2021
Remember that strange Will Smith
robot movie?
We don't comprehend either. Elon
Musk, on the other hand, does. Tesla is working on a 5'8" Tesla Bot, with
a prototype due sometime next year. The announcement was made during Tesla's
first AI Day, which was broadcast live on the company's website on Thursday
night.
The bot is being offered as a
non-automotive robotic application for the company's neural network research
and Dojo powerful supercomputer.
“Basically, if you think about
what we're doing with vehicles right now, Tesla is likely the world's largest
robotics firm because our cars are essentially semi-sentient robots on wheels,”
Musk added. “With the Full Self-Driving Computer [... ], which will continue to
evolve, and Dojo and all the neural nets recognising the world and learning how
to navigate around it, it makes sense to transfer that on to a humanoid form.”
He went on to say that the bot is
"designed to be pleasant and travel around a world built for people."
He also stated that they are working on it so that humans can simply run away
from it and conquer it. It will weigh 125 pounds and walk at a speed of 5 miles
per hour, with a screen on its face that will display crucial information.
PC: Tesla
Interestingly, Musk envisions
this as a way to replace much of the human drudge job that currently consumes so
many people's life - not just labour, but also grocery shopping and other
mundane duties. He waxed lyrical about a future in which physical labour would
be a choice, with all the economic ramifications it would entail.
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“In the long run, I believe
universal basic income is necessary,” Musk stated. “But not just now,” says the
narrator, “because the robot isn't working.”
Last but not least, Musk invited
engineers to “join our team and help us develop this.”
Keep in mind that Tesla isn't the
first manufacturer, or even company, that has developed a humanoid robot. The
Asimo robot from Honda has been around for decades and is extremely advanced.
Why are we so excited about Tesla's robots when Toyota and GM have their own?
Is it just because it's a Tesla that makes a difference? Is it because it will
be powered by a possibly extremely powerful vision-based supercomputer?
Who knows whether this humanoid
robot will ever see the light of day, but until then, we'll be fascinated by
Tesla updates until we can buy one of these things in a store and have it buy
our eggs for us. That's what I call an AI utopia.
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Source: TechCrunch