Tesla and SpaceX unveiled the prototype of a robot “Optimus”

On Friday, Elon Musk, creator of Tesla and SpaceX, unveiled the prototype of a robot he’s calling “Optimus.” The robot is anticipated to retail for much less than a Tesla vehicle and be produced in vast quantities.

During Tesla AI Fest 2022, the new gadget was unveiled by having the bot go on the stage and give a thumbs up to the crowd.

Musk said the prototype “can really do more than we’ve just shown you. We were just hoping it wouldn’t completely implode on itself. Musk provided video evidence of the same robot doing a variety of tasks, including transporting a package, watering plants, and extracting a metal bar from a manufacturing mechanism.

According to SpaceX’s creator, the robotic is a Bumble C prototype from the first generation that will develop into Optimus in the future. Then he showed off what was supposed to be the finished product. Its design was significantly more refined than that of Bumble C, with no wires left visible. It made a similar motion, but it seemed unable to move.

Even while “Optimus is going to be phenomenal in five or 10 years, just mind-blowing,” and “there’s still a bunch of work that must be done to develop Optimus,” Musk assured the public that Tesla will be ready to accept orders for the bot in 3 to 5 years.

Optimus, Musk claims, will be a “very competent robot” for less than $20,000, whereas many of the robotics that came before it was “without a brain,” lacked the ability to traverse the environment on their own, and were expensive.

The second Optimus prototype, at 73 kg, is powered by the same computer gear as Tesla’s self-driving system. Tesla engineers claim that a whole workday’s worth of power can be drawn from its battery, which has a capability of 2.3-kilowatt hours.

Optimus Prime, a fictional robot in the Transformers series, wants to live in harmony with humans, and the name seems to be a reference to him.