Tesla recently showcased the latest version of Optimus II, the Optimus Prime robot. In a newly released video, the second generation humanoid robots appear to have greater flexibility than the previous generation - including more elegant walking postures and greater freedom of hands, and can even be used to perform delicate tasks such as cooking eggs.
Tesla Optimus project leader Milan Kovac pointed out on the X platform that these shots in the video are real-time and do not involve 3D animation technology synthesis (CGI).
Musk and OpenAI are both laying out
Tesla stated that the second-generation Optimus Prime robot has reduced its weight by 10 kilograms while retaining its original functions, and has better balance, such as being able to squat and stand freely, and has increased its speed while walking by 30%.
The biggest upgrade of Optimus Prime is its hands, which have 11 degrees of freedom and can move objects more cleverly. As shown in the video, the robot can pick up eggs and gently lay them down, thanks to the improvement of sensing technology.
The release of the all-new Optimus Prime marks a step closer for Tesla to create a "universal, bipedal, autonomous humanoid robot". Tesla's goal is to enable humanoid robots to perform dangerous, repetitive, and tedious tasks.
Musk previously claimed that the potential of humanoid robots is more important than Tesla's electric vehicle business. In his biography, Musk believes that Optimus Prime robots were the key to transforming Tesla into a $10 trillion enterprise.
"Essentially, in the future, robots performing physical work will become a choice." Musk stated as early as 2021, "Considering that the foundation of the economy is labor, it has a profound impact on the economy." He also said that in the future, everyone will have a humanoid robot, and this market will be worth billions of dollars.
But this goal may take many more years to become a reality. The Optimus Prime humanoid robot made its debut last year, and Tesla has yet to determine the official release date or price of the robot. Musk predicts that the commercial version of the robot is expected to be available to customers in the next three to five years, and early versions may be tested on automotive production lines first.
In fact, not only Tesla is optimistic about humanoid robots, but artificial intelligence star company OpenAI has also begun to layout this track and has attracted the attention of SoftBank Chairman Sun Zhengyi.
In March of this year, OpenAI Entrepreneurship Fund led an investment in Norwegian robotics company 1X Technologies, marking OpenAI's first foray into the hardware field. The market targeted by 1X Technologies is commercial robots in professional environments, with the goal of addressing the increasingly scarce labor market and developing robots that can collaborate with human safety in daily scenarios.
Musk and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman are both committed to building universal artificial intelligence, and humanoid robots will become an important carrier for achieving this goal.
Commercialization still needs time
Integrating a "super intelligent" brain into the body of a robot, enabling it to simulate human behavior and actions, interact with the environment through perception, reasoning, decision-making, and action, and have the ability to make autonomous decisions and actions, interacting with humans more realistically. Robots with this ability are also known as "embodied AI".
Nvidia founder and CEO Huang Renxun stated earlier this year that embodied AI will become the new type of artificial intelligence driving the next wave of artificial intelligence.
Humanoid robots have also attracted a large amount of capital investment. For example, American robot startup Figure, which is dedicated to developing universal humanoid robots, received $70 million in funding from venture capital firms such as Parkway in the first round of external financing in the first half of this year.
According to the latest news, Sun Zhengyi is considering leading a new round of nearly $100 million financing for 1X Technologies. SoftBank has invested in multiple robotics companies, including Boston Dynamics.
But achieving the commercialization path of robots is not easy either. Boston Power, the pioneer of the humanoid robot industry, has gone through 30 years of research and development and has just begun to commercialize. Currently, its main applications are concentrated in the logistics and warehousing field.
In 2021, Boston Power launched the "Box Moving" robot Stretch. Stretch's greatest skill is the ability to move boxes anywhere like a human, which is also the first robot launched by the company that can truly be used in the logistics field.
As of now, logistics companies including Arvato and CEVALogistics have purchased Stretch and deployed it in working environments such as container ports and warehouses.
However, Stretch is not a humanoid robot. In an interview, Aaron Saunders, Chief Technology Officer of Boston Dynamics, explained that although humanoid robots have great potential in narrowing the technological gap and are crucial in achieving universal robotics technology, they may not necessarily be the most ideal form for completing tasks such as moving boxes.
"Even if humans can perform the task of moving boxes, it does not mean that robots need to transform into human shapes to better complete these tasks." Sanders said, "Stretch has arms similar to cranes that can move on wheels. It is not a humanoid robot, but can move boxes more efficiently than humans."
This statement implies that the humanoid robot Digit from competitor Agility Robotics. Due to optimism about the application prospects of robots in the warehousing field, technology giant Amazon has stated that it has started testing Agility Robotics' Digit robots in its US warehouses. Digit is a bipedal robot that stands nearly 6 feet tall and has smiling eyes. It can walk and move boxes. According to reports, its operating cost per hour is only $10 to $12.
How are Chinese companies doing?
In recent years, the development of humanoid robots in China has also accelerated. Last month, on November 2nd, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Innovation and Development of Humanoid Robots", proposing to establish an innovation system for humanoid robots by 2025, break through a number of key technologies, achieve mass production, enhance technological innovation capabilities, build an international competitive industrial ecosystem, and reach the world's advanced level by 2027.
Taking advantage of the development advantages of the manufacturing industry, Shanghai released the Action Plan for Promoting High Quality Innovation and Development of the Intelligent Robot Industry (2023-2025) in October this year, proposing to build a globally influential innovation highland for the robot industry by 2025; Building 10 industry-leading robot brands, 100 benchmark demonstration robot application scenarios, and a scale of 100 billion yuan in robot related industries; Build three public service platforms, including the Intelligent Robot Detection and Pilot Certification Innovation Center, the Humanoid Robot Manufacturing Industry Innovation Center, and the General Robot Industry Research Institute.
Recently, China Electronics Technology Corporation's 21st Institute released the first generation of humanoid robots. This robot is 1.62 meters tall, weighs 60 kilograms, has 39 degrees of freedom (including finger joints), can carry a maximum load of 5 kilograms per arm, and can walk at a maximum speed of 5 kilometers per hour. At present, the robot can perform agile operations such as holding water cups and moving boxes, and also has agile obstacle avoidance ability. It can walk steadily on uneven roads such as slopes, gravel fields, and grasslands.
Fourier Intelligent Technology Company located in Shanghai is also developing humanoid robots. The company's humanoid robot GR-1 is 1.65 meters tall, weighs 55 kilograms, has 54 degrees of freedom, walks at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour, and weighs 50 kilograms.
According to the company's introduction, the GR-1 humanoid robot will be the first to be applied in livelihood scenarios such as rehabilitation and care. Currently, this robot has been delivered in small quantities. In the future, the deployment of artificial intelligence large models and highly mobile humanoid robots is expected to engage in various tasks such as household services, elderly care, education, medical care, facility inspections, and disaster relief.
Data Robotics Company has also released the humanoid bipedal robot XR4 "Seven Fairies" Xiaozi. It is reported that Xiaozi, who is 1.65 meters tall, is empowered by the multimodal large model RobotGPT and has the ability to integrate multimodal perception, cognition, decision-making, and behavior generation.
At this year's iFlytek 1024 Technology Conference, the company released a embodied AI humanoid robot based on the Starfire model. In the video of the press conference, this robot can adaptively walk in complex terrains such as lawns, stone roads, and plastic runways, and can maintain stability.
Liu Qingfeng, Chairman of iFLYTEK, told First Financial reporters that the launch of the large model has empowered the development of robots to enter a new stage, with humanoid robots significantly improving their ability to disassemble complex tasks and search for objects in open scenes. There is a significant improvement in the ability of reinforcement learning to generalize and mimic the complex terrain movements of human walking compared to mainstream systems.