Featured Image Credit: Tesla
Topics: Elon Musk, Robotics, Tesla, Technology
Joe Harker
Elon Musk is building a robot, and has said a prototype of it will be ready to unveil three months from now.
Called 'Optimus', the robot will be able to walk around at speeds of 5mph and lift 150lbs for its intended purpose of carrying out manual labour.
The Tesla CEO plans to show off Optimus at the company's 'AI Day' event scheduled for 30 September.
Musk thinks Tesla could move Optimus from prototype to production as early as next year, CNBC reports.
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He claimed the switch to robots doing menial tasks will usher in an 'age of abundance' as we just make robots do all the work we don't want to.
It was also claimed that robots could 'transform the world' even more than the electric cars Tesla has a reputation for making, though how much they actually do remains to be seen.
Optimus was first teased at Tesla's previous AI Day in August of last year as Musk said the rise of the machines would have 'profound implications for the economy'.
Rather than ushering in our untimely demise in a Terminator-esque fashion, Optimus is meant to be a factory worker robot that handles 'dangerous and boring' tasks which a human wouldn't want to do.
It might also have more domestic applications like picking up shopping or doing menial tasks around the house.
While having robots replace humans for doing jobs in the workplace and around the home, this is how a lot of science fiction movies begin.
Usually it all kicks off when the robots turn on their human masters with the poetic message that we create the things that replace us with no regard to what happens after we're no longer needed.
Perhaps fearing this outcome, Musk had previously said that the 5'8" tall Optimus could be overpowered by humans, a handy design feature if your AI goes a bit rogue.
Optimus will be fitted with the same camera technology that comes with Tesla cars so it can see all around it and recognise objects.
As for the AI behind Optimus, Musk admitted each robot 'could develop a personality over time that is unique'.
AI is often considered a major threat to the future of humanity, with Musk himself saying in 2018 that it was more dangerous than nuclear weapons, so we had better hope Optimus is safe.
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