Recently, the Tesla robotics team announced the latest progress of the Optimus humanoid robot on social media platforms. From the video, it can be seen that Optimus firmly caught the tennis ball thrown towards him with one hand, and his fingers can bend relatively flexibly.
Tesla engineer Milan Kovac stated that this robotic arm has doubled its degrees of freedom compared to the previous generation, with 22 degrees of freedom for the hand and 3 degrees of freedom for the wrist/forearm. The video demonstration was conducted in the laboratory through real-time remote operation, and Tesla plans to soon manufacture robots equipped with this advanced robotic arm.
Milan Kovac stated that there is still some work to be done by the end of the year, particularly in expanding tactile sensing integration, achieving very precise control through tendons, and reducing forearm weight. At present, all drivers have been moved to the forearm, which increases its weight. Meanwhile, the interesting challenge lies in having sufficient softness/flexibility and protective layers on the fingers and palms, while not excessively affecting touch.
At the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Tesla humanoid robots made their debut at the exhibition. The staff explained that Tesla's goal is to significantly reduce the cost of robots, from hundreds of thousands of dollars to one or two thousand dollars. Tesla is expected to start limited production of humanoid robots next year, with over 1000 humanoid robots at Tesla factories helping humans complete production tasks. Musk predicts that in the future, humanoid robots will become the mainstay of industry, with Tesla aiming to occupy over 10% of the market share and keep the cost of humanoid robots at around $10000, with an estimated selling price of $20000. This will bring Tesla a market of $25 trillion to $30 trillion.