The upgraded robot has faster walking speed, hand movements, tactile sensing on fingers, and much more.
Tesla has unveiled ‘Optimus Gen 2’, a new generation of its humanoid robot that can perform human-like tasks. A video shared by Elon Musk shows significant improvements made to the robot since its prototype was first unveiled at the Tesla AI Day earlier this year. The Optimus Gen 2 is 10 kg (22 lb) lighter, 30% faster, a lot smoother and more capable. The upgraded robot has faster walking speed, hand movements, tactile sensing on fingers, and much more.
On Wednesday, the billionaire shared a demo video of the robot on X, and wrote, “Optimus.” In the video, Optimus Gen-2 can be seen in action at a Tesla factory with the company’s Cybertrucks parked all around. The robot, with a sleek design and a shiny white exterior., can perform squats due to “improved balance and full body control”. Further, the Optimus Gen-2 is also seen boiling eggs which is made possible by the humanoid’s new hands, which have “tactile sensing on all fingers”.
At the end of the video, two Optimus Gen 2 robots are even seen dancing.
Watch the video here:
Optimuspic.twitter.com/nbRohLQ7RH
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 13, 2023
Tesla claimed that the humanoid has improved torque sensing, articulated toe sections, and better human foot geometry, among other technical improvements.
Tesla’s website states that the goal of this “bipedal autonomous humanoid” is to replace humans in performing unsafe or mundane tasks.
”Achieving that end goal requires building the software stacks that enable balance, navigation, perception and interaction with the physical world. We’re hiring deep learning, computer vision, motion planning, controls, mechanical and general software engineers to solve some of our hardest engineering challenges,” Tesla wrote.
The company said that it plans to soon start using the robot in its manufacturing operations.
At a Tesla shareholder meeting in 2022, Mr Musk talked about the humanoid robot and said, ”It will, I think, turn the whole notion of an economy on its head, at the point at which you have no shortage of labor. It is a fundamental transformation of civilization as we know it.”
A few months back, Tesla shared another video of its humanoid robot performing a variety of tasks including doing yoga and sorting blocks by colour autonomously.
