Elon Musk has come clean about what happened with the Optimus video, commenting that it did indeed have a gimmick. The entrepreneur confessed that the robot was not actually performing the task alone. The video scandal became popular when two internet users realized that there was a control glove operated by a human performing the movements.
Optimus’ latest video opened the debate
Since Tesla unveiled its new Optimus robot model two years ago its videos have been openly shared online. In all of them, supposedly, its developers shared how Optimus performed different activities autonomously. The problem was created when Elon Musk shared on his X (formerly Twitter) account a video of Optimus in which the robot was folding T-shirts. Shortly after, within minutes of sharing the clip publicly, the entrepreneur had to acknowledge that the robot “still” could not 100% complete the task on its own.
Users of the social network noticed human gloves moving. Something that suggested that the robot was being directed by a person. Upon contemplating this, some Internet users accused the company of misleading advertising. Musk did want to comment on this, saying that in the near future, Optimus will be able to do everything alone.
Internet users noticed that Elon Musk apologized because there was no other choice.
Elon Musk ‘s statements came after several people spotted the Optimus video glitch. An action that led some internet users to believe that he was forced to speak out so as not to look bad to his audience. Brett Adcock, for example, CEO of a robotics company called Figure shared on X that he was disappointed with the publication. Commenting that Tesla was trying to sell Optimus as an autonomous robot when it really (by the action of the clip) is not.
On the other hand, James Manyika, director of research at the World Economic Forum, expressed his opinion. Writing that Elon Musk’ s release was an example of how “technology companies exaggerate the capabilities of their products.”
Optimus is Tesla’s articulated humanoid robot
Optimus
is the first articulated humanoid robot. It is human-shaped and has several built-in cameras to monitor what is happening in its environment. They wanted to design it so that it monitors and analyzes everything that is happening, just like a human brain. You could say they started from the structure of their autonomous cars.
Engineers created
Optimus
so that it could mimic human movements. For this purpose, a total of 40 electromechanical joints were placed along the entire body structure. Although it has become clear that he still needs a little help to be as agile as a human, the company was able to get Optimus to lift 5 kg with one arm and up to 25 kg from one place to another. What do you think?
