Elon Musk has announced that he will have an initial prototype of an androgynous “Tesla Bot” by next year, reports Tech Xplore. Based on the same technology as the company’s semi-autonomous vehicles, the robot will be able to perform basic repetitive tasks with the aim of eliminating the need for people to handle dangerous or boring work, Musk said. “Tesla is arguably the world’s biggest robotics company because cars are semi-sentient robots on wheels,” he said. “It kind of makes sense to put that into a humanoid form.” Tesla’s touting of its automation technology comes as the carmaker faces increased scrutiny over its driver-assistance system, with safety regulators in the United States launching a probe after a series of crashes. Tesla is accused of misleading motorists into believing the so-called Autopilot vehicles can drive themselves, though Musk has defended the system. The Tesla Bot, which will have five-fingered hands and come in black and white, is intended to be “friendly” and built such that “you can run away from it and most likely overpower it,” Musk said. “Hopefully that won’t happen, but you never know.” Musk, the second richest person in the world according to Forbes, told the conference he believes robots will phase out physical labour for people. “I think essentially, in the future, physical work will be a choice,” he said.
https://techxplore.com/news/2021-08-elon-musk-tesla-robot-physical.html
