Elon Musk’s Tesla robot, known as Optimus, demonstrated its laundry-folding capabilities by neatly folding a t-shirt on a table within a development facility. While the robot appears proficient in performing this task, Musk shared additional details that temper some of the excitement surrounding its domestic abilities.
Notably, Musk pointed out that he could fold shirts faster than the robot, and more importantly, Optimus was not operating autonomously during the demonstration, which is the ultimate goal. In its current state, the robot functions more like an expensive marionette or a modern version of early automatons, following predetermined motions to achieve its objective. Musk acknowledged that the plan is for Optimus to eventually accomplish these tasks fully autonomously, without the artificial constraints present in this particular demo, including the fixed-height table and a single article of clothing carefully placed in a basket.
Tesla has showcased remarkable technical feats in recent promotional videos; however, it is likely that these demonstrations are meticulously scripted and pre-programmed, emphasizing the robot’s impressive mechanical capabilities rather than its artificial intelligence. Elon Musk’s caveat, upon closer examination, essentially implies that the truly challenging aspects will be addressed in the future.
Acknowledging the difficulty in developing a humanoid machine capable of manipulating soft materials like clothing in a manner resembling human interaction is essential, as it involves intricate animatronics work. However, suggesting that these achievements bring them close to the point where Optimus can function as a fully operational domestic assistant, comparable to a human domestic worker, would be akin to presenting a video of a wooden marionette and claiming, “of course, this will be a real boy soon.”
Musk is known for making predictions with timelines that often defy logic, and his assertion of “within three to five years” made during the original unveiling of the robot prototype last year (excluding the year before when it was merely a person in a suit) seems implausible considering its current status and the current state of robotics technology in general.