Tesla unveils humanoid ‘Optimus’ robot; Elon Musk says it could 'eliminate' poverty

Owned by Billionaire and the Chief Engineer of SpaceX Elon Musk, Tesla on Friday night showcased a prototype of a humanoid robot, called Optimus.  

Musk had announced the celebration of the company's AI Day in Palo Alto, California through his Twitter. Musk, who is entering the robotics business after success in electric vehicles through his company Tesla, stated that Optimus will kick-start a “fundamental transformation for civilization as we know it.” He further revealed that Telsa is trying to accomplish “a future of abundance, a future where there is no poverty," by developing the humanoid robots.  

Tesla reveals Optimus at the company's AI day

A deconstructed model of Optimus with its inner wiring visible, walked on the stage on Friday night at Tesla’s AI day celebration. The robot further performed a "raise the roof" dance move while waving its hands in what Tesla claimed was the biped's first walk without a tether.  

Additionally, Tesla also presented a video of Optimus performing various tasks such as watering plants and carrying a box.

The information shared by the company revealed that the robot will weigh around 73 kilograms and will be embedded with a 2.3 kilowatt/hour battery with Wi-Fi and LTE connections. However, the company stated that the android, Optimus is not ready for use in the real world yet.  

“We started doing something that is usable, but it is far from being useful, there is still a long and exciting road ahead of us,” Stated Milan Kovac, the director of engineering for Autopilot at Tesla.

He further revealed that Tesla plans to start by deploying the android at a Tesla factory before making it available to the public for purchase.  

Elon Musk has previously claimed that the robot business of Tesla has the potential to be worth more than its business of electric vehicles. On Friday night, the billionaire revealed that the company plans to build millions of robots like Optimus and expects each unit to cost less than $20,000.  

At the event, the electronic vehicle company also shared the latest updates to its assistant driving systems, including the Full Self-Driving software, which Tesla said has been installed by 160,000 Tesla drivers so far this year.