The All-In-One Robot for Everyone?

In September 2022, Elon Musk presented the latest prototype of his OPTIMUS robot at Tesla's AI Day. According to the visionary, it should be possible to order the model in 3-5 years for a price of around US$20,000. Assuming that the developers will make progress as fast as they did last year, there might actually be some truth to this statement.

According to the facts so far, Optimus is supposed to have the size, dimensions and, at 73kg, the weight of an average human being, move according to the human anatomy, have 5-fingered hands and be active for a whole day with its 2.3kWh battery. OPTIMUS will be used for all simple tasks that could also be performed by a human being, i.e. not only for typical functions in the production process that were previously reserved for robots or for monitoring tasks, for example. This clearly also targets the consumer market and anchors the idea of a robot for everyone in people's minds. No one except Tesla's development department knows exactly what the finished Optimus will look like in the end and what functions it will be able to perform.

The presentation, however, at best gave a glimpse of the future. The undisguised prototype still acted very shakily, another had to be pushed onto the stage, and all OPTIMUS models in videos, where objects are picked up and carried, for example, are cable-controlled or -powered. Experts also criticize the basic design and miss the lack of unique features, innovations and new approaches in the Movement.

But if a company, or rather an entrepreneur, has the necessary drive to really implement ideas, to take on great things and also to realize them, then this is Elon Musk. So let's remain - cautiously - optimistic.