Optimus – Tesla’s humanoid robot

October 6, 2022

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently unveiled the latest prototype of Optimus – a humanoid robot developed by the American company based in Texas.

Key facts

The prototype of Optimus was showcased during the annual Tesla AI [artificial intelligence] Day presentation.
The humanoid robot demonstrated the ability to perform simple tasks like watering plants, carrying boxes and lifting metal bars.
Its purpose is to replace a human tasks with a machine.
This robot shares some of the artificial intelligence software and sensors with the Tesla cars’ autopilot driver assistance features.
The mass production of these robots will cost less than 20,000 USD.
The design of the robot mimics the human anatomy, with five independently moving fingers capable of grasping adaptively with high precision. This enables it to use tools in an accurate manner.
This robot has a uniquely designed actuators – a complex set of gears, motors, sensors and controls that act like human muscles. There are a total of 6 actuators, which minimizes the cost, eases the manufacturing process, speed, torque, mass and efficiency.
Since it is powered by AI software, it has high cognitive ability of perceiving, planning and navigating the world. This is significant since other humanoid robot do not have this capacity.
It was developed within a year, while other similar robots were developed after more than 10 years of efforts. This feat was achieved by integrating the technology used for self-driving cars into a humanoid body.
It is using the same AI technology behind Tesla’s FSD technology (a driver assistance software requiring comparatively less driver input) to guide the robot.
The robot will be trained by a custom data centre technology called Dojo, which is under development by Tesla. Dojo is a supercomputer that provides video training using video data obtained from Tesla vehicles.