Elon Musk's vision of having humanoid robots in households might still be far from the present, but Tesla's robot project is progressing as time goes by. From the ridiculous showcase of a human wearing a robot costume for demonstration, Tesla Optimus has come a long way.
Tesla Optimus Sorting Objects
The latest demonstration video shows that Tesla has made progress since the last time the company showed off the humanoid robot. Optimus is now capable of calibrating its own arms and legs among other functions that have been added.
The robot is able to detect specific points of its limbs through its vision and joint position encoders. This allows the robot to locate its parts precisely in real space, which would help when it's interacting with the object at sight.
According to the post on X, "its neural network is trained fully end-to-end: video in, controls out," and it learns different tasks better with its accurately calibrated limbs. Its capabilities were demonstrated as the robot sorted blocks autonomously by color.
Optimus can now sort objects autonomously 🤖
— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) September 23, 2023
Its neural network is trained fully end-to-end: video in, controls out.
Come join to help develop Optimus (& improve its yoga routine 🧘)
→ https://t.co/dBhQqg1qya pic.twitter.com/1Lrh0dru2r
Optimus is also capable of "autonomous corrective abilities," shown as it rearranges the block upright when it lands sideways. The robot is capable of doing it in reverse by removing the blocks it had initially sorted in the designated trays.
As for balance, the video shows how steady the robot can stand with only one leg, with the other leg up and an arm facing forward. To further prove the point, it exhibited a yoga pose with its hands at its chest level and one leg up.
It's certainly progress, especially when it comes to the robot's balance, but its capabilities still don't show that much promise, especially since it has displayed more impressive capabilities before than just sorting blocks out by color.
Tesla's Optimus Prior
The first demonstration of the robot was not that impressive since it could barely keep its balance and it walked so much slower, but the video uploaded on YouTube four months ago shows it walking around the office at a more stable slightly faster pace.
It also boasted better torque controls which was exhibited by showing the robot leg jumping on an egg without breaking it. Despite that breakthrough, it might not even be the most impressive progress on Tesla's humanoid robot.
The YouTube video shows that the machine is capable of environment discovery and memorization as well. It takes in its surroundings and keeps them in memory, allowing it to create a 3D reconstruction of everything it has seen, generating a map-like model.
At first, the robot's actions were based on human movements, which were used to train its AI. Ultimately, the goal is to teach the robot to do more complex tasks than just picking up objects, so its sorting capabilities are headed in the right direction.
With this trajectory, it's still unclear when the company plans to release the robot in the market. It will likely be used within Tesla first before it is commercially distributed. For now, the robot is still being developed and is a long way from being a household assistant.
