May have unbeatable powers of distraction as automaker talks up its coming-soon-now AI supercomputer and glosses over product delays
Tesla has paused a lengthy job ad for its AI efforts by announcing it’s going to build a humaniform robot prototype. CEO Elon Musk on Thursday announced the project at the automaker’s AI day, saying that Tesla already does most of the things a robot needs – sensing, AI, and actuators – and claimed without a hint of irony that the company’s cars are already “semi-sentient” robots thanks to their self-driving capabilities. That’ll be the capabilities being probed and challenged in America right now after several auto-autos were involved in nasty crashes. With all that expertise in hand, Musk suggested Tesla might as well therefore build a robot. Details were scant. Musk suggested the bot will stand 5’8″ (178.8cm) tall, weigh 125 pounds (56.7kg), and be capable of carrying 45 pounds (20kg) or deadlifting 150 pounds (68kg). The bot has a brief to eliminate “dangerous, repetitive, boring tasks.” “It’s intended to be friendly, of course, and navigate a world built for humans,” Musk said, adding that flesh-and-blood humans could “most likely overpower it” and definitely outrun it – which is reassuring to anyone who has watched Westworld.
