NOT ELON TO GO
Elon Musk reveals humanoid robots will start working in Tesla factories next year and says they’ll be ‘genuinely useful’
See the creepy Optimus humanoid robot in action by hitting play on the video above
TECH billionaire Elon Musk is unleashing humanoid robots into his Telsa factories next year.
The creepy bots will go into "low production" internally before they are made available to other companies in 2026.
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Musk, 53, tweeted that the walking machines will be "genuinely useful" when deployed to help build Telsa cars.
"Tesla will have genuinely useful humanoid robots in low production for Tesla internal use next year and, hopefully, high production for other companies in 2026," he said.
The electric car giant has been working on a humanoid robot, known as Optimus, to use in its factories and on production lines.
When Tesla’s humanoid robot was first announced in 2021 during a company event, it did not appear on stage but a person wearing a white outfit and a black helmet walked robotically on before starting to dance.
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Since then, Tesla has shown off updated versions of Optimus, including in a video at the end of last year in which the robot picked up, held and put down an egg without breaking it (see a video below).
It's even been shown doing yoga.
Musk has previously said he hopes Optimus will walk humans into a "future of abundance, a future where there is no poverty, a future where you can have whatever you want in terms of products and services.”
But he's also cautioned about the development of humanoids, saying they can "basically chase you anywhere".
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“It’s something we should be quite concerned about," he told the AI Safety Summit last year.
"If a robot can follow you anywhere, what if they get a software update one day, and they’re not so friendly any more?"
Elon Musk unveils robot 'Optimus II' with creepy human hands and can poach an egg
An exact price for the bot is yet to be announced by Musk has previously suggested it will be lower than $20,000 (£17,900).
A second version of the machine, dubbed Optimus II, works 30 times faster than the last one.
It's also 10kg lighter and has a more human like build.
What can Optimus do?
Robots are nothing new in factories - but Elon Musk says Optimus will be "genuinely useful
- Forward walking
- Squatting and squat walk
- Side stepping
- Turning while walking
- Lifting objects from the ground up to eye level
- Squeezing or gripping and object and lifting it
- Climbing stairs
- Squatting and picking up and object
- Walking on a slope or hill
- Sliding objects
- Using a drill
- Pushing and pulling objects
- Turning with an object
- Using a screwdriver
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