Musk pushes humanoid robot: the price may be less than 20,000 US dollars, need to learn from the lessons of Boston Dynamics

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Tesla debuted its Optimus humanoid prototype at the 2022 AIDay event.

The Optimus humanoid robot weighs 73 kilograms. It is equipped with the same FSD computer and Autopilot-related neural network technology as Tesla vehicles. It also uses the same chips as Tesla vehicles. It supports Wi-Fi, LTE link and audio communication .

The Optimus humanoid robot has a total of 28 degrees of freedom. It adopts a more flexible spring load design and 6 types of actuators. The joints are designed with bionic joints to simulate the shape of human joints and tendons, and the hands are ergonomically designed. , with 11 degrees of freedom.

Optimus (Optimus) humanoid robot has a certain degree of flexibility, with sensitive fingers, it can clearly identify surrounding objects, and complete some agile movements. For example, the Optimus (Optimus Prime) humanoid robot can carry things, water flowers, etc., and can also dance.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the target price of Tesla’s Optimus Prime humanoid robot “could be under $20,000”, which could include cooking, gardening and even a companion, and production could begin as early as next year, with the potential for 3- Delivery within 5 years.

The appearance of the Optimus humanoid robot has attracted a lot of attention in the industry. Of course, there are also bearish voices. A human resources expert pointed out that the global population is now 7 billion to 8 billion, human resources are still very rich, and the Optimus (Optimus) humanoid robot technology is very complex, it is difficult to complete a $10 hourly job.

“It seems that a huge amount of money has been spent on the development of a bionic electric bird instead of directly developing an electric plane. Of course, Musk has become a ‘god’, and it is difficult to hear the voice of opposition.”

At present, many companies have begun to research in the field of humanoid robots, but this industry also faces many challenges.

For example, Boston Dynamics has been working in the field of humanoid robots for many years, and possesses key technologies of perception, navigation, intelligence and other high-performance robots. Its Atlas is considered to be the most agile humanoid robot in history, which can walk, run, climb, and jump over obstacles, and can also get up on its own after a fall.

This makes Boston Dynamics well-known all over the world, but Boston Dynamics is facing the fate of being sold again and again, and its valuation is getting lower and lower.

Boston Dynamics was spun off from MIT in 1992 and was acquired by Google for $3 billion in 2014, but Google parent Alphabet sold it to SoftBank in less than three years.

SoftBank transferred its 80% stake in Boston Dynamics to Hyundai Motor at a price of 1 trillion won (about 917 million U.S. dollars), and SoftBank, through its affiliates, retained 20% of Boston Dynamics shares after the transaction. However, compared with 7 years ago, Boston Dynamics’ valuation has not only not improved, but has shrunk by nearly 63%.

For the giants, Boston Dynamics is flashy, not only expensive, but also far from commercialization.


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