Elon Musk and Tesla are promoting the firm's Optimus robot as its subsequent groundbreaking revenue generator, yet following numerous occurrences, certain individuals are inquiring about its actual level of autonomy.
TL;DR
- Tesla's Optimus robot fell over at a Miami event, raising questions about its autonomy.
- Some Optimus robots previously used in demonstrations were remotely controlled by humans.
- Elon Musk claims Optimus robots perform actions using AI, not human tele-operation.
- Tesla plans a large manufacturing facility for Optimus, expecting it to be a major revenue generator.
At a weekend gathering held at a Tesla facility in Miami, an event named “autonomy visualized” featured a humanoid robot that toppled over backward. This occurred after the robot made upward gestures with both hands toward its head, as captured in footage shared on Reddit. (This occurrence followed closely on the heels of Russia's unveiling of its inaugural AI-driven robot, which similarly fell onstage during a public presentation). The Tesla gathering's objective was to showcase its “Autopilot technology and Optimus,” Electrek reported.
It made the movement after accidentally knocking some of the water bottles it was handing out off a desk, and stood out because of its similarity to a human reaction. While it’s unknown what actually occurred during the incident, the robot’s movement led some online to speculate the robot may have been taking off a VR headset.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Coins2Day’s request for comment.
Tesla Optimus
by u/Decent_Cheesecake643 in teslamotors
The occurrence was notable as Tesla had previously employed human-operated Optimus robots during similar occasions. At Tesla's Robotaxi demonstration last year, guests engaged directly with Optimus robots. A few played rock, paper, scissors, while others provided beverages or posed for pictures.
However, it has emerged—despite the firm not publicizing it—some of those bots were apparently being controlled remotely by humans. At least one Optimus unit confessed this, stating: “Today, I’m assisted by a human, I’m not yet fully autonomous,” while the LA Timesreported, at that point, employing people to control the machines could have stemmed from a last-minute directive from Musk to feature the automatons in the Robotaxi demonstration.
Tesla has previously trained its robots with workers wearing special motion-capture suits and VR headsets.
Although Tesla has previously utilized individuals to demonstrate their Optimus robots, Musk has frequently stated that the robots, in different environments, are not controlled by people.
Responding to a post on X from October that featured Optimus performing martial arts, Musk confirmed the robot's actions were “AI, not tele-operated.” During the debut of Tron: Ares later that month, an Optimus unit was also observed facing off against actor Jared Leto, an accomplishment Musk likewise attributed to AI direction rather than human intervention.
“Optimus was at the Tron premiere doing kung fu, just up in the open, with Jared Leto. Nobody was controlling it. It was just doing kung fu with Jared Leto at the Tron premier. You can see the videos online,” Musk said during Tesla’s third quarter earnings call. “The funny thing is, a lot of people walked past it thinking it was just a person.”
It remains uncertain if the Optimus robots still require human support, but Musk and Tesla have placed significant expectations on the product, which Musk has referred to as “the biggest product of any kind, ever.”
Musk has estimated that Optimus might account for as much as 80% of the firm's overall worth. Furthermore, during the company's third-quarter financial update, the chief executive officer stated that Tesla intends to commence constructing a manufacturing facility next year, which could ultimately yield an annual output of one million Optimus units.
