Elon Musk teased the Optimus humanoid robot prototype at Tesla’s annual shareholder’s meeting. A new image of the robot was revealed ahead of the official unveiling on September 30th, giving us a better idea of what the humanoid robot may look like.
The image features the hands of the Optimus prototype. The image serves as a promotion for the upcoming AI Day Part II event which aims to recruit AI talent to the company.
At the shareholder meeting, Elon reiterated that he believes that the humanoid robot business will become bigger than Tesla’s automotive business:
“I suspect Optimus is going to be more valuable than the car long-term. It will turn the whole notion of the economy on its head.”
Elon previously mentioned that Optimus could solve the labor shortage and shift the economy to reduce labor costs. Tesla plans to leverage its expertise in power electronics, batteries and AI expertise to build a revolutionary product.
Elon initially claimed that the robot would perform simple and repetitive tasks, including manufacturing operations. Tesla eventually plans to improve the robot over time, enabling it to perform more complex tasks for both commercial and consumer applications.
Earlier this year, Elon announced: “Tesla AI Day Part II” with “many cool updates.”
The first “Tesla AI Day” (recap of event) held last year was an event focused on the company’s full self-driving technology. At the first event, Tesla announced plans for the Optimus humanoid robot.
The second AI Day was initially supposed to be held a year to the day after the first one, but it was pushed back to September 30 to give Tesla more time on the robot, according to Elon.
Elon says that Tesla aims to start production in 2023. This is a very ambitious timeline for such an ambitious project, but Elon has said that Tesla is prioritizing the development of the Optimus humanoid robot in 2022 over other products.
