Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk said on Friday that his company’s first humanoid robot will be operational by September this year. Musk tweeted that he has postponed the electric carmaker’s second AI Day to September 30 for this reason.
In 2021, Tesla introduced the human-sized robot Optimis during Tesla’s inaugural Artificial Intelligence (AI) Day. Elon Musk imagined that one day the Tesla bot would have “the potential to become more important than the vehicle business over time”.
According to a presentation made during the 2021 AI event, Optimus will be about 173 cm (5ft’8) tall, weigh about 57 kg and have a carrying capacity of 20 kg. It will be controlled by the same artificial intelligence system that Tesla is developing for use in its electric vehicles.
Musk at the time said that “physical work would be an option,” adding, “Tesla is arguably the largest robotics company in the world. Our cars are basically semi-sensory robots on wheels”.
Musk’s tweet that a prototype humanoid robot could be in the works by the end of September generated immediate interest, racking up more than 33,000 likes in an hour.