During the Giga Texas Cyber Rodeo yesterday, Elon Musk hinted that Tesla might start producing the Tesla Bot, otherwise known as Optimus, as early as next year.
The humanoid robot made its first appearance at AI Day in August 2021.
“We have a shot of being in production for version one of Optimus, hopefully next year.”
We have yet to see a working robot prototype in the public sphere, nor do we know how sophisticated Optimus would be.
However, according to information obtained by Drive Tesla while at the Cyber Rodeo, there were functioning prototypes at the event, but only available for viewing by VIPs.
During his presentation on stage, Musk noted that the robot would do tasks that humans did not want to do back when it was announced. He envisioned Optimus bringing an “age of abundance” for humans.
Although Musk did not confirm any timelines or provide a demo, the fact that Tesla is looking at production in 2023 does seem to point towards Optimus as being a priority for the company.
Many saw it as simply an AI recruiting tool for the company. But evidently, those sceptics may have been wrong.
