Will Musk's humanoid robot be delivered soon?

Optimus Prime is going into mass production and demands a larger stake. Is Boss Ma making another "outrageous statement"?

Today, Tesla released its fourth quarter and full-year financial report for 2023. Against the backdrop of slowing growth in its main automotive business, Tesla is focusing on the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics to open up new growth space.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk also revealed in a conference call that Tesla's humanoid robots will begin small-scale deliveries as early as next year. However, Musk has repeatedly set delivery targets last year: delivery is expected by the end of 2023, and mass production is expected in early 2024...

Although Mr. Ma has not made any definite statement, based on his past style of "making trouble" and Tesla's "optimistic" delivery schedule for new products, the delivery time of Optimus is still unknown.

However, Musk has high expectations for Optimus, believing that the potential of humanoid robots may far exceed the sum of Tesla's other products. Based on Tesla's strong technical accumulation and powerful media exposure effect, Tesla will be the "top stream" in the field of humanoid robots for a long time to come, and Optimus, which has successfully learned yoga, disco and other skills, will continue to accelerate its evolution.

There is no need to elaborate on Tesla's status in the new energy vehicle industry, but with traditional car companies accelerating their electrification transformation in recent years and fierce attacks from new forces from all sides, Tesla has now been dethroned as the "sales champion" by BYD.

After netizens compared the sales of Tesla and BYD, Musk responded with a "breakdown": Compared with a car company, Tesla is positioned closer to an AI and robotics company. Netizens joked: If you can't beat them, just transform.

However, for Tesla, which has now entered a "plateau period", Musk is indeed constantly "paving the way for a living" and looking for the next business growth curve, and AI and humanoid robots are one of his "bull's eyes".

In Tesla's view, humanoid robots are another revolutionary product after electric cars: in the future, the benefits of humanoid robots will likely exceed those of electric cars. A family only needs one car, but they may need multiple robots.

Some time ago, Musk posted on social media that he hoped to obtain a 25% stake that would give him enough influence within Tesla but not so much that it would be impossible to overthrow. He also made the "outrageous statement" that he would rather leave Tesla if he did not have 25% control.

However, not long after, Musk posted a video of Optimus folding clothes online to show the latest achievements. In the video, Optimus folds clothes smoothly.

And just when people couldn't help but sigh, "Robot nannies are really coming?", Musk came up with a wave of "self-proof and anti-counterfeiting", saying that Optimus is currently unable to complete the operation of folding clothes independently, and made up for it: but in the future it will definitely be able to realize this function completely autonomously in any environment.

This operation also shows that humanoid robot technology is not yet mature and still faces many challenges.

For example, the autonomous driving of humanoid robots requires breakthroughs in precise environmental perception, high-speed decision-making and planning, and stable control. Although Tesla's FDS (Full Self-Driving) system has been upgraded to the V12 Beta version and has accumulated a large amount of data for real driving scenarios, its accumulation in the field of autonomous driving can provide support for the development of robots. However, compared with vehicles, humanoid robots work in more complex scenarios such as industry and home, and further breakthroughs are needed to achieve true full-scenario autonomous driving.

“I see a path to creating a really powerful AI and robotics giant that I hope will have enough influence.”

"It is reasonable to expect that by the 2040s there will be 1 billion humanoid robots on Earth, and by the 2060s there will be 100 billion robots (mostly alien) throughout the solar system," Midjourney's founder wrote in a post on social media.

In response, Musk said: "This is very likely to become a reality, but the prerequisite is that the cornerstone of civilization must be indestructible."

For Musk, AI and robots are a "big bet" that is totally worth investing in. What new breakthroughs will Optimus make next time? When will Musk's flag be fulfilled? Let's wait and see.