Tesla Bot: a humanoid robot for the most thankless tasks

Elon Musk took advantage of the Tesla AI Day held (full replay above, featured on robot from 2:05) to announce that his company is in the process of designing a humanoid robot thought to perform tedious, repetitive tasks. and dangerous. According to him, the “Telsa Bot” could be presented in the form of a working prototype next year, although everyone knows that Elon Musk is often angry with the schedule. It is not known if this robot will be marketed by Tesla or if the company will make it one of the exclusive assets of its own production sites.

For the most thankless tasks

Standing on its two legs, human-like, with a screen instead of the face, this robot capable of accomplishing the tasks that humans least want to do will have “a profound impact on the economy”, promises Elon Musk. For him, it will be impossible to avoid the question of the universal wage in the future, and most physical and strenuous work can be done by robots.

“Of course, robots will end up stealing the work of many humans, so humans will have to be offered other sources of income.”, considers Elon Musk. This goes against the discourse of certain specialists according to which we will witness a transformation of professions, with the creation of new positions to imagine, program, assist or repair robots. A chimera for Elon Musk who seems to imagine a society where, everywhere, production will be carried out or assisted by robots.

“At the moment our robot is not working and robots sophisticated enough to make this happen are not yet ready. But it is happening.”, specifies the boss of Tesla. It must be said that designing a humanoid robot capable of performing the same tasks as any human is not easy. It is even strictly impossible to date, Man being an incredibly efficient and adaptable “machine”. Even the most sophisticated AI can’t claim to develop all the skills of even a young child.

As for the technique, making a body as agile and stable as that of a Man using metal, plastic and jacks is extremely delicate. You just have to see how much weighs and all the technology that is on board Atlas, the robot acrobat from Boston Dynamics to be convinced of it. And again, that’s not to mention the need to endow these robots with hands as capable as those of men. These are all reasons why today’s industrial robots do not look like humans and are designed and programmed to perform a very small number of different tasks.

A new era for robotics?

Elon Musk is ambitious and never stingy with superlatives. He sometimes made untenable promises but at the same time managed to mark a turning point in both the automotive and space industries with Space X. Here, he thinks he can create a revolutionary robot and he does little to say that the advances in development of this Tesla Bot will be extremely followed. Ultimately, this robot should measure nearly 180 cm, weigh 57 kg, travel up to 8 km / h and carry loads of up to 20 kg. “Can we ask him things like ‘please take this nut and tighten it on the car with this key’, I think so. We should also be able to ask him to go to the supermarket? to bring us this or that product. I think we can do that “, adds Elon Musk.

We do not know what the autonomy of this robot will be, but it will move in space using 8 cameras and a chip that will be similar to the equipment in the manufacturer’s cars. And the billionaire boss of Tesla to add: “I hope you understand that Tesla is no longer just a company that makes cars”. Tesla which, as a reminder, was launched with an electric supercar derived from a Lotus chassis before tackling, step by step, more accessible segments of the market. Will it be the same for this robot? “You will see”, was satisfied to answer Elon Musk with a smile.