Elon Musk showed off his next big project: a sleek white and shiny humanoid robot, sized a bit smaller than the average man, engineered to perform B次元官网网址渄angerous, repetitive, boringB次元官网网址� tasks B次元官网网址� sometime in the future. Called the Tesla Bot, it will be ready for unveiling in prototype form sometime next year, Musk said B次元官网网址� but if itB次元官网网址檚 not, it wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be the first time a promised Musk innovation turned out to be vaporware.
The mock-up robots that were onstage with Musk at a Tesla company event Thursday night were not even vaporware. One was a statue-like model that didnB次元官网网址檛 do anything but stand still. The other was a person in a costume and mask who performed a crazy dance.
B次元官网网址淥bviously, that was not real,B次元官网网址� Musk said after the dancer finished. B次元官网网址淭he Tesla Bot will be real.B次元官网网址�
Musk showed a slide with the robotB次元官网网址檚 specs. According to the slide, it will stand 5-foot-8 and weigh 125 pounds, with a top speed of 5 mph.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 intended to be friendly, of course,B次元官网网址� he said.
The robot reveal came at the end of a livestreamed event filled with technical detail about TeslaB次元官网网址檚 efforts in artificial intelligence.
If Musk was joking about the robot, he didnB次元官网网址檛 let on. He talked about the need to provide a universal income to those who lose their jobs as robots take over. B次元官网网址淚n the future, physical work will be a choice,B次元官网网址� he said.
Musk has an adolescentB次元官网网址檚 love of science fiction jokes and sprinkles them into many of his public appearances and interviews, but he has spoken seriously about the threat posed by advanced artificial intelligence and cofounded a company, OpenAI, dedicated to keeping AI safe for humanity. He severed his ties with OpenAI sometime around early 2018.
Another of his companies, Neuralink, is working on a brain/computer interface; Musk has said augmenting human brains with computing power will help humans compete with future forms of AI. HeB次元官网网址檚 said Neuralink will cure blindness, paralysis, deafness and mental illness. MIT Technology review has labeled such claims B次元官网网址渘euroscience theater.B次元官网网址�
Although Musk has notched many successes at Tesla and SpaceX, his rocket company, he has a long history of touting innovations that donB次元官网网址檛 pan out or arrive years behind schedule. For several years, heB次元官网网址檚 promised that the company was on the verge of launching a fleet of robotaxis powered by its Autopilot software, a million of them by the end of 2020. HeB次元官网网址檚 yet to deploy a single one.
Years ago he promised an electric semi truck, a pickup-like Cybertruck and a rocket-powered roadster, but none are close to production. While Tesla allows vehicle owners to B次元官网网址渂eta testB次元官网网址� what it calls B次元官网网址淔ull Self-DrivingB次元官网网址� on public roads, experts say itB次元官网网址檚 years away from achieving true autonomous driving. Musk, however, said the Tesla Bot will use Autopilot technology, B次元官网网址渕aking use of all the same tools that we use in the car.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淥ur cars are semi-sentient robots on wheels,B次元官网网址� he added.
Earlier this week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced an investigation into why the companyB次元官网网址檚 partially robotic Autopilot feature has driven Teslas into police cars, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles stopped by the roadside at least 11 times. The crashes injured 17 people and killed one.
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