Checking in on Tesla's Optimus Robot

Checking in on Tesla's Optimus Robot - Managing Expectations

Last year Elon Musk announced at the first Tesla AI day the Tesla Bot, which has since been renamed the Tesla Optimus, that is basically a general purpose humanoid robot assistant with human like appearance and proportions. Elon expected they would have a working prototype by the end of 2022.

While very little has been released about the project since, in June Elon took to Twitter to announce that they would delay this year's Tesla AI day until September 30 in anticipation of having a working prototype of the robot by that time.

Elon Musk announces the Tesla Bot at the 2021 Tesla AI day.

When I initially wrote about the Tesla Bot I noted that both Boston Dynamics and Disney Imagineering are developing robot technologies that demonstrate a streamlined, humanoid robot like Optimus is certainly possible.

However with precious few details, and the occasional appearance of static, concept manikins of Tesla Optimus bots at places like the Cyber Rodeo Gigafactory Austin, Texas (see video below), one can only speculate what to expect on September 30th.

With not really much to report I thought I'd see what an AI could cobble together in the way of a blog post about Tesla Optimus.

Jasper A.I. is a web application that is being used to generate all kinds of written content right now, including blog posts.

Just enter a title, a brief description of what the article should be about, a style, and some keywords, and Jasper can put together an article in seconds. Below is (word for word with no edits by me) what it came up with when I entered the same title as this blog post and described my article as; Writing an update on any recent information about the Tesla Optimus Robot in a semi serious style.

Bonus AI generated images by CrAIyon.
Tesla's Optimus Robot has been the talk of the tech world ever since it was first announced. And with good reason - the potential for this bot to revolutionize home automation is huge.
However, Tesla has been pretty quiet on the Optimus front lately. Some early adopters were disappointed when Tesla failed to deliver on its promise to release the bot in late 2019.
Tesla has since said that the Optimus is still in development and that they are taking their time to make sure it is perfect before release. This is understandable, but it does mean that we are still in limbo as far as an official release date goes.
In the meantime, there have been some interesting rumors and bits of news about the Tesla Optimus Robot. Here's a rundown of the latest:
The Tesla Optimus is rumored to be able to do some pretty amazing things. One of these is its ability to track objects and people around your home. This would be a huge help if you want to keep an eye on your kids or pets while you're away.
Another rumor is that the Tesla Optimus will be able to self-charge. This would be a huge advantage over other robots on the market, as you wouldn't have to worry about plugging it in or running out of power.
The Tesla Optimus is also rumored to be waterproof. This would be an incredible feat, as most robots are not able to withstand even a little bit of water.
At this point, however, these are just rumors. Tesla has not released any official information about the Tesla Optimus. As such, it's important to manage your expectations. Tesla may or may not release a robot that can do all of these things. But if they do, it will surely be a game-changer.

As far as articles goes it's certainly passable to the casual reader, and I would've saved at least a couple of hours writing this if I only published Jasper's effort.

The trouble is, I don't know if any of it is true? At least one fact is completely wrong... i.e. the Tesla Bot wasn't even a thing in 2019 so how could Tesla fail to deliver on any promises if they haven't even made them yet, and who are those early adopters? Chances are Jasper maybe got confused with Tesla vehicles on this info.

I'm not entirely sure where all the rumors come from either but they do sound plausible. One assumes Jasper simply trawled the internet for these things so maybe they do relate to the Tesla Bot?

Aside from that, it's not a bad effort. I could probably have edited in some real rumors and facts from known sources and still saved myself more than an hour writing.

Anyway, there's not really anything new to report on Tesla Optimus. I guess we'll just have to wait until September 30, AI day. In the meantime, it may be wise to manage expectations. We will only be seeing a prototype after all.

It's likely the first prototype Tesla Optimus won't
deliver on what was promised.

Comments

TV Series Review: Velma (2023-2024) No Spoilers

A s a kid, Scooby Doo cartoons were something I used to watch fairly regularly. I wasn't a diehard fan but it was one of the better, of the many, cartoons I used to watch. I had heard about the new animated series, Velma , around the time of its release but it wasn't coming out on any streaming service I was subscribed to so it went off my radar pretty quickly. Quite by chance I signed up to a streaming service so I could watch DC Entertainment's, The Penguin, and noticed Velma was on that platform. I figured I may as well get my money's worth out of the subscription. I did know that Velma, herself, had been race swapped for the show, which made no real difference to me, though I do prefer classic Velma if pushed to choose. However the first episode of season one was a real shock to my expectations! No where had I heard this series was skewing very much into adult humor and themes. I was expecting something more along the lines of the original Scooby Doo show. Instead I

Movie Review: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) No Spoilers

I f you're like me and didn't go to see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in theatres you made the right choice. For context, I loved the first Aquaman movie . It's one of my favorites from the Snyder/DCEU era. It is a relatively well made adventure story, with some fantastic world building, amazing visuals, and included some commentary on environmental issues as well. Despite having, mostly the same creative team, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom comes across as a film that couldn't decide what it wanted to be, in terms of a sequel. On the one hand it wants to showcase the cool, fun, wisecracking, but bad ass, rock'n'roll version of Aquaman (Jason Momoa) with another rollicking adventure. On the other it feels like someone said it had to be epic with potentially world changing stakes so Aquaman would have to do 'King Shit' and be all serious, navigate deep sea politics, and generally try to be a responsible heroic good guy that he is when he's not being

TV Series Review: The Office - Australia (Prime Video) (2024) No Spoilers

W hile I'm a late comer fan of The Office, only watching after the original and USA versions were both available on streaming services, I did watch them in the order of release i.e. I watched the U.K. version first. Now, with the release of the Australian version of The Office on Prime Video, I think it's best to approach watching this new version understanding that it is not those shows. More importantly, remembering the US version was not well received or as popular as it has become since streaming became a thing. I personally remember people often saying the original version was better, back in the day. Of course, the Australian version has analogues for all the same characters you're familiar with from the previous versions, with their characteristics, so you can easily see who is the Aussie version of each character. While there are actually 13 different adaptations of the series worldwide, I was surprised to learn this is the first time the boss has been female. No

Optimus Robots, Self Driving Cars and Buses - Tesla's 'We Robot' Event and the Evolution of Optimus

Tesla Optimus Robot Serving Guests. Image: Tesla O n the tenth of October Tesla held their 'We Robot' event, which I guess is the new incarnation of their previous Tesla AI Day annual event. There were three much talked about reveals, the driverless taxis, a driverless bus, and Optimus robots moving around the event, fully interacting with people 'on the ground'. Tesla Driverless Taxi. Image: Tesla While it was cool to see so many driverless taxis, that you could get in and experience for yourself as they drove around the Warner Brothers lot, and the driverless bus was something of a surprise reveal nobody expected, my attention was on Optimus. Tesla Driverless Robovan. Image: Tesla It was in September of 2021 that Elon Musk first announced his plan to create an affordable, humanoid, domestic robot, that would eventually be in homes worldwide. That vision was underlined with a person wearing a robot suit, that wasn't as well received as Elon may have liked, despite

If I Could Talk to the Animals... Maybe AI Can Make This a Reality?

W e've always been able to talk to animals, and it's sometimes said, jokingly, you may have a problem if they start talking back, but what if they could? One thing that AI is good at is processing data and spotting patterns, common elements, and highlighting relationships which makes it ideal for all kind of research, so why not studying the language of animals? It seems like science fiction but so were real-time language translators not too long ago. What if you could understand exactly what your pets are saying to you and speak back to them (through a real-time translator) in their own language? While were not there yet, advancements in AI learning systems seem to suggest that the idea is no longer as far fetched and fanciful as it used to be. To be honest, using AI to decipher animal communication accurately, is something that never crossed my mind but I'm truly excited to know that this research is being done. Watch the Bloomberg Originals video, Could AI Unlock the S

The Braille Skateboarding App - How it Changed My Mind on Switch Skating

My Profile on the Braille Skateboarding App. Braille Skateboarding launched it's new Skateboarding App worldwide on November 23rd, 2020. About a month prior to that they did a 'soft launch' via email for anyone living in Australia. I'm guessing this was to give the app a final test in the real world before launching it proper. Rather than explain what it is, watch Aaron Kyro, founder of Braille Skateboarding, run you through the app in the launch video below. In a nutshell the app is virtually everything Braille has to offer accessed right from your phone, from tutorials to the Braille Army Community. The app is free but you can unlock more features if you upgrade to a paid membership. Braille App Trick List. One of the apps unique free features is keeping track of the tricks you've learned and giving you an overall score so you have some way to measure your progression. There is an extensive list of tricks, covering all types of skateboarding, categorized by diff

Trump's 2024 Election Win Will Change Everything - At Least I Sure Hope It Does!

Trump by Leonardo.ai & TET A s an outsider looking in on the US 2024 election, right up until election day, it is beyond my belief that the election continued to be a 'close race'. It is even further beyond my belief that Trump won, without question. Even if the Democrats wanted to claim the election was rigged somehow (which I'm sure Trump was gearing up to do had the outcome been different) it would be hard to make the case, beyond a recount. There's no slim margin here. Trump clearly won. While I would've preferred a Blue win, I at least got one outcome I was hoping for. A clear winner on election day. If I could give the Democrats some free, unsolicited advice for the next election. Stop targeting the opposition as if they're somehow selfish, evil villains. That's not how political parties work. At the end of the day the all represent the public. The people. The everyday citizen who you're trying to convince that you have what it takes to meet t

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog