In an All-in Summit interview yesterday, Elon Musk provided more detailed insights into the development and future of humanoid robots, focusing on the Tesla Optimus project. He described how, as production scales up and technological improvements are made, the cost of a humanoid robot could approach around $20,000. He anticipates that Optimus will reach mass production within five to six years, following three major design iterations. By the time they reach a production scale of over a million units per year, Musk estimates that the cost of labor and materials for each robot could be approximately $10,000.
Musk mentioned that in the future, there could be 2 to 3 robots per person, leading to a scenario where the number of robots vastly exceeds the human population. He explained that once humanoid robots are able to perform general tasks and become fully operational with advanced AI, they will transform productivity across the economy. According to Musk, the goal is to create a robot that can handle nearly all human tasks efficiently, driving down the cost of goods and services to almost zero and leading to what he calls an “age of abundance.”
Additionally, Musk shared that Optimus is currently in testing, with early versions already being used in Tesla factories for light tasks. He also hinted that as the project progresses, Tesla’s in-house AI system, Grok, might be integrated into the robots, giving them more personality and allowing them to interact intelligently with users.
From a technological standpoint, Musk emphasized that the robots are designed to have similar hand anatomy to humans, with actuators in the forearm and tendons controlling the fingers, allowing for more degrees of freedom and better dexterity. The latest prototype has 22 degrees of freedom, approaching the capabilities of a human hand, which has about 25.
Overall, Musk envisions a future where humanoid robots become a ubiquitous part of life, revolutionizing both personal and industrial sectors while driving economic growth and reducing costs for consumers.
