“ The future should look like the future ” , CEO Elon Musk said at the Tesla “ We Robot”special event nurse in Burbank , California , in the beginning this hebdomad . Sure enough , Tesla ’s much - anticipated autonomous robotaxi , the Cybercab , and its heavy - vanguard counterpart , the Cybervan , seemedstraight out of celebrated sci - fi picture show . But as the name of the event hinted at , a visual modality of the future would not be complete without robots : Several of the Optimus Gen 2 , Tesla ’s late edition of android - alike robot , were found serving drinks , holding conversations with guests , and even dance at the event . Tesla has recentlypitchedthe Optimus as a potential replacement for factory workers in China and elsewhere . Muskpreviously saidhe expects the Optimus to start working at Tesla factories in 2025 and to be useable to other firm in 2026 .
Yet , at the event , the Tesla chief reveal his expanded vision of a household robot that can do “ everything you want : Babysit your kid , walk your domestic dog , mow your lawn , get the grocery store , just be your friend , serve drinks” . He also gave a closer estimate of the robot ’s price tag : Once produced “ at ordered series , ” Optimus should cost somewhere between $ 20,000 and $ 30,000 . Musk had previously tell the robot ’s price would be about half that of a auto .
Staying true to his sci - fi vision , the Tesla CEO referred to Optimus as a mark between R2D2 and C-3PO , thefamous droidsfrom the Star Wars picture show serial publication .
Ever since thefirst generationof the Optimus was revealed in 2022 , Tesla has underline the continuity between its railroad car and the robot . “ Everything that we ’ve developed for our cars — the electric battery office ’s electronics , the advanced motor ’s gear box , the software , the AI inference computer — it all really implement to a humanoid golem , ” Musk articulate at the event . “ A robot with arms and wooden leg , instead of a automaton with wheels . ”
Tesla would not be the first to offer a domesticated automaton on the market place . Hyundai - owned Boston Dynamics has already market a home divine service - type robot calledSpotwith a hefty price shred of $ 74,500 . BMW and Open AI are indorse robots made byFigure , a California - based company . Meanwhile , Nvidia is developingProject GR00Tto also deliver humanoid robots . in the beginning this twelvemonth , Goldman Sachsforecastthat the annual global market for humanoid robot could hit $ 38 billion by 2035 , with robot shipments of 1.4 million social unit both for industrial and consumer diligence . It also said that robots could become more low-cost as their manufacturing cost has been decreasing more than expected — leading to faster commercialization .
