Tesla Bot Is A Humanoid Robot That’s Friendly – Or So Elon Musk Says

During their AI Day live-streamed presentation, Tesla presented two new things – the D1 chip for their Dojo supercomputer, and the Tesla Bot, a humanoid robot that, according to Elon Musk, is scheduled to be unveiled in prototype form sometime next year. The Dojo supercomputer should also be operational in 2022, bringing the latest advancements in autonomous driving technology.

Starting with the less exciting but equally important stuff, the D1 chip was designed for Al-training. It was built with a 7-nanometer manufacturing process and has 362 teraflops of processing power. The chips can be combined in training tiles (25 x D1 chips) or cabinets (120 x training tiles) providing over an exaflop of computing performance – which is the equivalent of one quintillion floating-point operations per second.

Read Also: Tesla’s Yoke And Touchscreen Shifter Make Three-Point Turns A Hellish Experience

The goal for all this technological awesomeness is to train AI into recognizing the surrounding environment using feedback from cameras. Tesla models have been using Al chips since 2019, allowing the car’s Autopilot system to make decisions in real-time. Obviously, the company hasn’t achieved Level 5 autonomy yet – even with their “Full Self-Driving Capability” package – but their system is continuously improving with the goal of eliminating the need for human input in the future.

See Also: Here’s How Tesla’s Autopilot Performs In The Real World

And now it’s time to talk about the humanoid robot. Elon Musk described Tesla as “the world’s biggest robotics company”, stating that their cars are “robots on wheels”. In that context, the Tesla Bot is integrating technology from Tesla cars, including 8 Autopilot cameras and an FSD computer. It will also have a head-mounted screen, and 40 electromechanical actuators allowing it to move like a human.

The robot will measure 5’8″ in height (1.73m) and weigh 125 lbs (56.7 kg). It will be able to carry up to 45 lbs (20.4 kg) of weight, deadlift up to 150 lbs (68 kg) and walk/run to speeds of up to 5 mph (8 km/h). Musk ensured everyone that the Tesla Bot is designed to be friendly, however, he also stated that they made it slower and less powerful than a human so anyone will be able to outrun and outpower it – just in case.

If you are still wondering why we need such a robot, the answer is simple: labor. Musk suggested that “essentially in the future, physical work will be a choice”, as robots will “eliminate dangerous, repetitive and boring tasks” from our daily lives. Since our economy, at a foundation level, is just labor, using robots for work would allow for limitless growth. One thing that Elon forgot to add though is who is going to benefit from all those tirelessly working robots – will it be the minimum-wage people or just the big multinational companies?

Setting politics aside, a good thing about the Tesla Bot is its ability to move freely into our world using Autopilot software, while being able to understand people through voice recognition. This means it could perform tasks like going to the store and buying groceries, or help with any kind of everyday chores on demand.

Read Also: Hyundai Completes Acquisition Of Boston Dynamics As It Enters The World Of Robotics

Tesla is not the first automaker that moves into the world of robotics. Honda launched the Asimo robot in 2000 and is making robot mowers, Toyota made baby companion robots and humanoids to assist people at home, while Hyundai is another strong player, especially since the acquisition of Boston Dynamics earlier this year.

Will the Tesla Bot signal a new era in the real-life integration of robotics? This is something only time can tell. What is certain is that it won’t start a war with humankind as we have pretty much learned our lesson thanks to the Terminator movie franchise.