Elon Musk mentioned he would in all probability launch a humanoid robotic prototype subsequent 12 months dubbed the “Tesla Bot”, which is designed to do “boring, repetitious and harmful” work.
The billionaire chief govt of the electrical carmaker Tesla mentioned the robotic, which might be about 5ft 8in (1.7m) tall and weigh 125 kilos (56kg), would be capable of deal with duties reminiscent of attaching bolts to automobiles with a spanner or choosing up groceries at shops.
Talking at Tesla’s AI Day occasion, Musk mentioned the robotic might have “profound implications for the economic system” by plugging gaps within the workforce created by labour shortages. He mentioned it was essential that the brand new machine was not “tremendous costly”.
He described it as an extension of Tesla’s work on self-driving automobiles, and the robotic would use the identical pc chip and navigation system with eight cameras.
However Musk gave no indication of getting made concrete progress on truly constructing such a machine. On the level when a traditional tech launch may function an indication of a prototype mannequin, the South African entrepreneur as an alternative introduced out an actor in a bodysuit, who proceeded to breakdance to a soundtrack of digital dance music.
Corporations on the chopping fringe of robotics, reminiscent of former Google subsidiary Boston Dynamics, have produced bipedal robots. However the clunky, heavy machines they’ve demonstrated bear little resemblance to the svelte designs Musk claimed Tesla might construct.
The announcement by Musk, who has a penchant for hyping new product launches, comes amid an investigation into the protection of Tesla’s full self-driving software program.
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On Monday, the US authorities opened an investigation into Tesla’s driver-assistance system, often called Autopilot, after a sequence of collisions with parked emergency autos.
The investigation covers 765,000 autos, virtually all Tesla has offered within the US because the begin of the 2014 mannequin 12 months. Within the crashes recognized by the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration as a part of the investigation, 17 individuals have been injured and one was killed.
The NHTSA mentioned it had recognized 11 crashes since 2018 wherein Teslas on Autopilot or traffic-aware cruise management had hit autos at scenes the place first responders used warning hazards reminiscent of flashing lights, flares, an illuminated arrow board or cones.
