Musk plans to deploy humanoid robots in factories

TESLA chief executive Elon Musk blamed overreliance on factory robots for sending the electric carmaker to “production hell” four years ago, saying humans were better at certain jobs.

Musk’s Texas company is floating ambitious plans to deploy thousands of humanoid robots, known as Tesla Bot or Optimus, within its factories, expanding eventually to millions across the world, according to job postings. Buzz is building within the company as Tesla is having more internal meetings on robots, a person familiar with the matter said.

Longer term, Musk said at a TED Talk robots could be used in homes, making dinner, mowing the lawn and caring for the elderly people, and even becoming a “buddy” or a “catgirl” sex partner. The robot business eventually may be worth more than Tesla’s car revenue, according to Musk, who is now touting a vision for the company that goes well beyond making self-driving electric vehicles.

At its “AI Day” on September 30, Musk said Tesla will unveil a prototype from its project Optimus, an allusion to the powerful and benevolent leader of the Autobots in the Transformers series. Production could start next year, he said.

Tesla faces scepticism that it can show technological advances that would justify the expense of “general purpose” robots in factories, homes and elsewhere, according to robotics experts, investors and analysts. Tesla already employs hundreds of robots.

Humanoid robots have been in development for decades by Honda Motor Co and Hyundai Motor Co’s Boston Dynamics unit. Like self-driving cars, the robots have trouble with unpredictable situations.

“Self-driving cars weren’t really proved to be as easy as anyone thought. And it’s the same way with humanoid robots to some extent,” said the lead of Nasa’s Dexterous Robotics Team, Shaun Azimi. “If something unexpected happens, being flexible and robust to those kinds of changes is vdifficult.” Musk’s robots may be able to demonstrate basic capabilities, but it would be hard for them to impress public expectations of robots that are as capable as humans, experts say.

To succeed, Tesla will need to show robots doing multiple, unscripted actions, said Nancy Cooke, a professor in human systems engineering at Arizona State University. Such proof could provide a boost to Tesla stock, which is down 25% from its peak last year.

Initially, Optimus will perform boring or dangerous jobs, including moving parts around its factories, said Musk. He acknowledged that humanoid robots do not have enough intelligence to navigate the world without explicit instructions.But he said Tesla can use its expertise in AI and key components to develop and produce smart, humanoid robots at scale.