Elon Musk unveils Tesla robot that would do hard work for humans
Category: Health, Science & Technology
Via: hallux • 3 years ago • 13 commentsBy: Josh K. Elliott Global News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A billionaire inventor plans to build a line of artificially intelligent robots that could replace humans as physical labourers in the future.
Elon Musk announced on Thursday that he’s working on a humanoid robot at Tesla , which he said could have a “profound” impact on the economy in the future.
“It’s basically going to start dealing with work that is boring, repetitive and dangerous,” Musk said at Tesla’s AI Day event on Thursday night.
The so-called Tesla Bot will stand five feet eight inches, weigh 125 pounds, and move at roughly eight kilometres per hour, which is the equivalent of a brisk walk. Each one will be capable of lifting up to 45 pounds, and will feature a display screen in place of its face — if Musk can make it a reality.
He added that the robot would be meant for doing jobs that people “least like to do,” and that physical labour would eventually become a “choice” for humans.
A concept video depicts the robot as a faceless black-and-grey humanoid. It looks vaguely like a cross between the unskinned robots from Westworld and the stick figure that appears on men’s restroom signs.
Musk said the robots would navigate using eight cameras and Tesla’s AI computer chip, which is currently used to run the car company’s smart vehicles.
He said he hopes to have a prototype ready sometime next year, although he did not share a timeline beyond that. He also stressed that he does not want it to be “super expensive,” because he wants to see them in widespread use in the future.
Musk is well-known for making big promises about a science-fiction-like future, though he doesn’t always deliver on the hype.
His Tesla cars, for example, are currently under investigation by U.S. safety authorities after 11 collisions with emergency vehicles were linked to its Autopilot system over the last three years.
His otherworldly ambitions with SpaceX have also occasionally blown up in a series of launchpad disasters.
Nevertheless, Musk hopes to one day send humans to Mars via SpaceX, which has already developed its own reusable rockets and capsules for transporting people into orbit.
Artificial intelligence has come a long way in recent decades, but it’s still fairly limited in terms of what it can do in physical environments.
Humanoid robots remain largely the stuff of science fiction, which often portrays them as rebellious creations and killers such as the Terminator, Marvel’s Ultron and the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica .
The sci fi-loving Musk said he’s well aware of the dangers of AI, and that’s why he’s trying to design the robots with reasonable limits.
“We’re setting it such that it is at a mechanical level, a physical level, that you can run away from it,” Musk said. “And most likely overpower it.
In other words, humanity should be able to outrun and outmuscle the robots during a Tesla-powered AI rebellion … most likely.
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But can it bake a cupcake and patrol a blog ...
Elon Musk is a bit of an eccentric.
(As are many brilliant inventors).
But he has come up with some ingenious ideas... so I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually comes up with some robots that can do all sorts of amazing things!
Thing is, no matter how successful (or unsuccessful) Musk is with this technology, this is where we are heading. Technology is going to continue to work its way up the skill chain. In the 1980s we starting replacing utterly mundane tasks with robots and sophisticated manufacturing machines. Nowadays, technology is able to take over what were considered to be intelligent tasks such as producing legal briefs, integrating multiple systems to accomplish an end-user service (e.g. licensing a vehicle, configuring an order, routing transport logistics, ...).
We are heading towards an inevitable reality where there simply will not be enough genuine jobs for the population.
I agree, the question is at what point in time are the implications of that seriously discussed? Before or after the impact starts to be felt....
It will be after, of course. We tend to wait until we feel pain before doing anything. That is, we tend to not be strategic. Unfortunately.
I keep saying overpopulation is the worst problem we face
I think overpopulation and the automation of a vast number of jobs, from blue collar to white collar, is going to be the biggest problems of the middle of this century unless.....
I agree .. but I have questions. For example: as we speak many places in my state, Montana, are being overrun by tourists ... yet cannot accommodate the numbers they are receiving because of staffing shortages .. COVID has created a whole new beast regarding work ethic for many .. control is being handed over voluntarily to the whims of corporations .. I own Amazon stock and shop there -they know too much about me already ... my Tesla stock is my future blah blah ...
.... how do 'we' move into the future without manufacturing for ourselves - are 'we' going to trust China, trust their rare earth mineral mining and chip building that actually controls the US military weapons of war, to do the right thing with the power 'we' have given them over 'us' ... okay not paranoid .. yet question if a bit coin is actually real when they are mined digitally .. hmmmm?
Elon Musk is my hero .. yet I question whether somethings are better left alone..... [sigh] just wondering...
We certainly must, as a nation, be as self-sufficient as possible. Thing is, lots of jobs were lost in the last century due to the low cost of labor in foreign lands. Automation does not have much labor cost (and it continues to drop). So we will be faced with fewer domestic jobs but can reasonably be less dependent on other nations.
What we cannot get around, however, are natural resources.
Taken as a joke.
Good point .. and here is what I see China doing in Afghanistan: take the rare earth minerals .. the US is still ignorant in many ways, we still prop up the oil industry and ignore what is actual needed to move into the future..
The US shut down rare earth mineral mining in the US due to 'cost' and the environment .. yet Nevada among other states have an abundance rare earth minerals. 'We' must as a nation pull out heads out .. it is time to be self sufficient, manufacturing must come home. Are cheap products worth selling our nation out for?
but but but ... I was not joking : )
Can you imagine the improved yield of professionally robot skinned potatoes & yams?
lol
I’m sorry, but that’s dumb. Someone has been reading too much Asimov. There is nothing uniquely utilitarian about the human form for doing manual labor. Human shaped robots are 100% for marketing.
But not always. Has anyone watched Robin Williams in the movie Bicentennial Man?