If Elon Musk was hoping for waves of praise following his unveiling last week of the Tesla Bot, a humanoid robot designed to perform tasks, he was seriously mistaken.
What Happened: Musk used the massive media attention focused on Tesla Inc.'s TSLA AI Day to preview plans for the Tesla Bot, a 5’8” robot that would handle chores humans found either too dangerous or too dull and repetitive. Musk, who was accompanied in his presentation by a dancing performer wearing a costume resembling the Tesla Bot design, insisted his creation had “profound implications for the economy.”
Musk added the prototype will be ready for release next week, claiming that if “Tesla doesn’t do it, someone else will.”
Related Link: 5 Robots That Changed The World: The Iconic Forerunners Of The Tesla Bot
What Else Happened: Since the Tesla Bot came into the spotlight, the reaction has ranged from skepticism to incredulity to contempt.
“Unfortunately, as we have seen with robotaxis and other future sci-fi projects for Musk, we view this Tesla Bot as an absolute head-scratcher that will further agitate investors at a time the Street is showing growing concern around rising EV competition and safety issues for Tesla,” said Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst, in a note sent to his clients on Friday.
Carl Berry, a lecturer in robotics engineering at the University of Central Lancashire in England, told The Verge that calling the Tesla Bot “horse s**t sounds generous, frankly. I’m not saying that he shouldn’t be doing research like this, but it’s the usual overblown hype.
“I’m not saying Tesla researching this stuff isn’t a good thing,” he added. “But between them and companies like Boston Dynamics, they leave the public with unrealistic expectations of what robotics is currently capable of or will be for many years.”
Evan Ackerman, senior editor of engineering trade journal IEEE Spectrum, all but called Musk ignorant on the subject of robotics.
“I don't think he has any idea what getting humanoid robots to do useful stuff actually involves,” Ackerman said. “But the hard part is not building a robot, it's getting that robot to do useful stuff, and I think Musk is way out of his depth here.
“People without a lot of experience in robotics often seem to think that once you've built the robot, you've solved most of the problem, so they focus on mechanical things like actuators and what it'll look like and how much it can lift and whatever. But that's backward, and the harder problems come after you've got a robot that's mechanically functional.
Ben Collins, data scientist and educator with the online Free Data Academy, wondered aloud if Musk had abandoned one of his earlier obsessions.
“Serious ? for @elonmusk - how is Tesla bot helping advance the transition to sustainable energy? Or has Tesla's mission changed?” Collins tweeted.
However, not everyone was on Musk’s case. YouTube funnyman Ra Nerdsworth facetiously found a strategy in Musk’s venture that maybe Musk might have not realized.
“My theory is @ElonMusk is creating the #TeslaBot as a vessel for his consciousness so he can go to Mars after he realized we won't have a human on the Martian surface in his lifetime,” Nerdsworth tweeted.
Photo: Tesla Bot, courtesy of Tesla.
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