Analyzing the Details in Tesla's Latest Optimus Robot Demo
Computing
Speaker 1: New Tesla bot video just dropped. This one shows the robot autonomously sorting objects, doing a bit of yoga and more to understand the finer details in this video, what it reveals about Tesla's approach to AI and what separates optimists from other robots. I asked one of Cena's AI and computing experts to break it all down.
Speaker 2: They're making pretty good headway compared to what we saw back in October when they first debuted Optimus, which I think formally is called the Tesla bot, but almost nobody, including [00:00:30] Tesla calls it that. I think the most interesting thing here is they're trying to make a humanoid robot. A bipedal humanoid robot has a lot of balance issues, but on the other hand, it can fit into a world that's already designed for humans. We've
Speaker 1: Seen videos of robots sorting objects before, so what makes this video from Tesla so special?
Speaker 2: It was pretty impressive the way it moved very smoothly. It also was able to update its behavior very rapidly, dynamically. When you saw a person switch one of the blocks that it had just placed [00:01:00] in the bin, pull it back out, the robot was able to quickly figure that out and grab it again. And last, I think this is perhaps more subtle, but I think very important. You saw the robot using its full body, so it wasn't just moving its arm, it was moving its shoulders, its hips. Ultimately, if Tesla wants to succeed in making a very coordinated, useful general purpose robot, that kind of ability is necessary.
Speaker 1: Tesla debuted the demo video along with a tweet or ex post, I guess. What do you [00:01:30] call 'em now? Let me know in the comments. Wrong answers only that claims its neural network is trained fully end to end with video in and controls out. I had to ask Steven what all that meant.
Speaker 2: I think the most important thing in there is that their AI training data is video. They feed a huge amount of video data in there, and then the AI system learns to recognize the patterns and then is able to sort of encode that into a system that then does stuff that controls the robot.
Speaker 1: There are a [00:02:00] variety of different robots designed for use in warehouses, even some that went with a humanoid design. With that in mind, it might feel as though Tesla is a late challenger in the contest to make humanoid or warehouse robots, but the company's efforts to make autonomous cars might provide useful experience toward that goal.
Speaker 2: An autonomous vehicle and a humanoid robot, they're both a computer that's got some sensory apparatus that's making decisions on how to behave, how to move, how to navigate through the world, how to perform various operations. [00:02:30] So from a very high level, they're similar, and I think one of the interesting more direct connections is that they're both now trained on video data. So I think that as this technology develops, it's uncertain how well it will work. But it's interesting that Tesla is adopting that same approach, both for the Optimist bot and for its autonomous vehicle.
Speaker 1: The video of the robot is presented at 1.5 times speed. Here it is slowed back down to regular speed. Just to get a sense of the difference. It's [00:03:00] worth noting that Tesla does have a history of making exaggerated claims about what its technologies can do. Most notably, the full self-driving debacle. So perhaps good to take any news from the company with a little grain of salt.
Speaker 2: Obviously, we've had a lot of delays with F S D. I would not be at all surprised to see delays as we discover how difficult it really is to make a general purpose humanoid robot. We could potentially see them as soon as 2027. According to Elon Musk last year. I would be surprised, but maybe it's possible, [00:03:30] but I wouldn't be surprised if it slips.
Speaker 1: The background music in Tesla's demo video, interestingly sounds like a remix of the score from the 2014 sci-fi film X Machina, specifically the music from the scene. When spoiler alert, the robots rise up against their creator, interesting choice.
Speaker 2: There's certainly a risk that advanced humanoid robots could replace human workers. Take the jobs. I think that's a little bit sci-fi. We're not there yet. It's clearly with ai, it's [00:04:00] a worthy discussion. We're looking at that with the text-based bots. So the question is whether a physical bot like this could do physical labor for people, change oil or pick parts out of a warehouse. I think that's a long way away, but it's certainly a possibility.
Speaker 1: As always, thanks so much for watching. I'm your host, Jesse Yel. See you next time with the.
