Elon Musk revealed the latest generation of his Optimus robot on stage. They didn’t do much: they walked slowly into the audience, accompanied by protective Tesla employees, while Musk hyped them up.
“The Optimus will walk amongst you,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk qips. “You’ll be able to walk right up to them, and they will serve drinks.”
Musk explains it can basically “do anything” and mentions examples like walking your dog, babysitting your kids, mowing your lawn, serving you drinks, etc. He said it will cost $20,000 to $30,000 “long term.”
“I think this will be the biggest product ever of any kind,” Musk says.
They had some interacting with attendees, handing out cups of ice and playing rock-paper-scissors, but I’d bet those were remote controlled by other engineers, out of sight. The claim that they’d be able to take care of your pets or kids is ludicrous, coming from a guy notorious for his neglect of, and abuse of, his children.
He’s not going to be able to produce a reliable robot with all those capabilities for $30,000, and no, I’m not going to spend tens of thousands of dollars to own a big clumsy machine to take care of my evil cat poorly, and to serve me drinks. We recently had to replace our refrigerator, and we just laughed at the idea of getting one that had internet access and a drinks dispenser on its door…why would we want that monstrosity in our home, when you can’t even store a package of frozen peas in it?
As usual, Musk is just confirming that he’s a very bad salesman whose lies are getting increasingly unbelievable.
submoron says
Who’s going to come up with Musk’s three laws of robotics?
drksky says
He’s becoming PT Barnum at this point.
birgerjohansson says
Robots are excellent for repetitive tasks where items are presented to them in the exactly right spot.
Despite the impressive achiewements by Boston Dynamics robots, the problems with moving robots are far from solved.
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As for Musk, the engineers working for him have made one good achievement (Tesla cars) and one excellent achievement (re-usable self-landing first stages of launch vehicles).
Anything else promoted by Musk should be treated with suspicion.
seversky says
Cue re-runs of I, Robot on TV with maybe a series spin-off. And I’m waiting for the row to brew up over what gender they should be, how DEI applies to them and robot rights in general.
gijoel says
So Irving Police Department spent $150k on zhuzhed up cybertruck in their important fight to tell kids to just say no.
I’d think I’d need to take drugs in order to forget that fucking ugly monstrosity. You got to admire Pedoguy’s sales skills, he managed to convince people to buy an fugly ute (pickup), that looks like a space ship from the original Elite game, and that rusts in the rain.
patricklinnen says
He cannot get FSD to work on roads along side human drivers. And as chaotic as roads can be, he wants to sell normies on the idea that his robots can interact with them with rules of behavior that make less sense than road rules much less look after children.
StevoR says
How the Musk-y have fallen ..Oh wait, he was never that metaphorcially high anyhow – his personal drug-taking aside.. Just massively over-hyped and over-promoted. Oh and obscenely, dangeriously for the rest of us wealthy.
At least as a supposed visionary and leader although maybe once for a short while at SpaceX? Hmmm.. dunno. probly not even then?
SpaceX, OTOH, really have worked wonders and made a huge difference. Pity we have to rely on them so much when it comes to space exploration these days although as long as Elon Musk himself stays away and doesn’t fuck them up..
mordred says
Also reeeeaaaaally believable that the self driving taxi without any controls will be in production by 2026.
I think he has promised fully self driving cars really soon for the last 10 years or so.
I also am somewhat cautious about his claim from a few weeks ago that his “Spaceship” will fly to Mars in 2026 and will transport the first humans there by 2028, with an actual city on the planet in further 20 years. Really depressing to find so many news outlet reporting this stupid claim with a round of applause for the Twit.
mordred says
Stevor@7: Yeah, it would be really nice if there was another option for space exploration, specially on that wasn’t completely controlled by the oligarchs.
Maybe ESA will get their stuff together eventually? (Read the last sentence in a sarcastic voice)
KG says
Well yes, but be fair. Musk’s robots could probably neglect or abuse your pets or children.
Artor says
I wonder if Musk can build a robot that will behave as if it actually likes him, or if that’s a task too difficult even for a purpose-built machine?
robro says
I bet Optimus could replace Musk. They’re both inarticulate, clumsy and useless. As suggested, they would do just as well at taking care of his children as he does…perhaps even better if they don’t have the bigotry built in.
microraptor says
Isn’t tRump talking about how he’s going to put Muskrat in his administration now?
Autobot Silverwynde says
I’m sorry, but WHY THE FLYING FUCK HASN’T MUSKRAT BEEN SUED BY HASBRO?! It is DEAD ASS obvious WTF he’s doing here.
Oh, Muskrat? Sweetie? Sugar? THAT CLUNKY ASS POS AIN’T AN AUTOBOT AND NEVER WILL BE.
shermanj says
The elongated muskrat was always a delusional ‘legend in his own mind’. It proves how destructive crapitallism is when a failure of a human being like him can be so financially successful on the poorly paid work of others. I love the idea of an EV. I really admired Otmar Ebenhoech when he created EVs years ago. He used his own talent and skill and created early EVs that performed wonderfully. The muskrat is the exact opposite. He is an ignorant, hate spewing, lying no talent waste of oxygen. Why to the ignorant, drooling, corporate owned media keep putting him on pedestals? I’m angered and disgusted!
shermanj says
As one of our engineers says: Oh, and will this fever dream come to pass just like his saying he will put humans on mars by 2026? Hey, muskrat, real stainless steel alloys DON’T RUST, you bullshitter. That slimer truk would work better as a doorstop!
(I guess we won’t be allowed in his fan club)
shermanj says
One more remark, then I need to calm down and reduce my blood pressure. I want it to be that “You’ll be able to walk right up to them and destroy them with a taser”.
Recursive Rabbit says
I knew Optimus. I grew up with G1 Transformers toys. You are no Optimus.
microraptor says
@14: It’s because “Optimus” is a Latin word. Hasbro can’t trademark it.