Tesla boss Elon Musk unveiled the automaker’s first humanoid robot at this week’s AI Day event.
Following talks on driver-assistance software Autopilot and the new Dojo artificial intelligence training system, someone dressed like a Tesla Bot took the stage for an energetic dance routine.
“Obviously that was not real,” Musk told the audience, teasing the anticipated 2022 release of an actual Tesla Bot prototype. “If you think about what we’re doing right now with cars, Tesla is arguably the world’s biggest robotics company,” the CEO said. “Our cars are like semi-sentient robots on wheels.”
So why not replace those wheels with legs and put the bots to work? Intended to eliminate dangerous, repetitive, and boring tasks, the friendly cyborg will “navigate through a world built for humans.”
A sort of android offspring of Tesla’s vehicles, the robot boasts a screen on its head for displaying useful information and comes packed with electromechanical actuators for natural movement—including “human-level” hands.
Don’t let the sleek body and soulless face scare you, though. Weighing in at 125 lbs., with a max speed of 5 mph, Musk is confident most people can “run away from it and most likely overpower it.” “Hopefully that doesn’t ever happen, but you never know,” he added, hinting at an eventual robot uprising.
The monochrome machine stands at an impressive five-foot-eight, can carry up to 45 lbs, and deadlift as much as 150 lbs. So even if you can’t outrun a Tesla Bot, it wouldn’t be able to carry you very far.
Musk has yet to outline the real-world uses for Tesla Bot, though mechanical soldier seems an unlikely career path. The entrepreneur and business magnate has been warning of the potential dangers of artificial intelligence for years. In 2015, he endorsed an open letter advising against autonomous weapons, later joining AI and robotics experts in calling for the United Nations to ban such artillery.
