Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed off his famous humanoid robot Optimus during the AI Day event organized by the electric car maker on Friday.
The billionaire said business in robotics would be more valuable than its cars, hoping to expand beyond self-driving cars that have yet to become a reality despite his repeated promises.
A prototype of the robot walked on stage and waved to the spectators. A video of the robot was shown carrying a crate, watering plants and moving rods at the car manufacturer’s factory.
“Our goal is to make a useful humanoid robot as quickly as possible,” Musk said at the event at Tesla’s office in Palo Alto, California.
“There is still a lot of work to be done to improve and prove Optimus.”
Musk said humanoid robots currently “miss a brain” and added that they do not have the intelligence to roam the world on their own, are expensive and are made in low quantities.
By contrast, he said, Optimus would be a “very ingenious robot” that would be manufactured in very large quantities, possibly millions of units eventually, and expected to cost much less than a car or less than twenty thousand dollars.
In the future, Musk said, robots could be used in homes, prepare dinners, mow the lawn, care for the elderly, and even become “buddies” for humans.
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