The first glimpse the general public were given of Tesla`s "Optimus" wasn't a robotic at all — it become a virtual render and a human in a robotic suit. However, Tesla did finally display they had been definitely operating on a workhorse robotic at final year's AI day. A check version constructed with third-celebration components even wandered on level and waved at every person. An early model of the real Optimus became up and gave every person a wave, too — aleven though it needed to be wheeled out on a trolley.
Fast ahead to this week, and Optimus once more became up at some stage in Tesla's Investor Day 2023. The robotic did now no longer seem on level, however a quick video become performed which confirmed Optimus choosing up a robotic arm and strolling a quick distance with it. Another Optimus become proven the usage of gear too. It's now no longer clean precisely how correctly the video presentations Tesla's development, however there is loads of communicate surrounding humanoid robots and their position withinside the personnel lately.
Elon Musk's Tesla has grabbed maximum of the headlines after making consistent development with Optimus, and now any other organisation has emerged that appears to be growing a completely comparable product. Figure, a robotics startup claiming to have over a century's really well worth of revel in on its 42-man or woman team, has "emerged from stealth" with a likely contender to Optimus. "Figure 01" has a comparable design, is being created to healthy a comparable purpose, and has comparable specs to Tesla's effort.
Tesla is not the handiest humanoid robotic producer in town
Musk currently made predictions approximately how Tesla's bot may want to effect the personnel, inferring bots like Optimus may want to emerge as as not unusualplace as humans in some years — and he is not the handiest one theorizing a 1:1 bot-to-man or woman ratio. Figure's founder and CEO Brett Adcock has basically echoed Musk's words, pronouncing that there could be "One robotic for each human at the planet."
Like Tesla, Figure has definitely diagnosed gaps withinside the exertions pressure its robots may want to fill. This bot is not being constructed as a technological flex — it has a clean purpose. Figure's bots will allegedly be well-ideal to such things as warehouse and retail paintings, however can also be used to take care of the elderly.
Even in case you are now no longer elderly, you can nevertheless have a Figure 01 searching after you. As with Tesla, Figure believes economies of scale and automation will finally make its bots affordable. Getting a robotic butler to pitch in with family chores can be as normalized as shopping for a dishwasher in some years.
The computing facet of factors additionally parallels Tesla's plans. Advanced AI, that is able to getting to know and fixing puzzles, is a key a part of any humanoid robotic. Instead of constructing unique robots for unique tasks, corporations can construct one and the bots can paintings matters out from there. If there were not sufficient parallels with the thoughts of Elon Musk, Adcock is likewise speakme approximately his robots probably supporting humanity colonize space.
How does Figure 01 examine to Optimus?
The apparent query is how does Figure 01 examine and stack up towards Optimus? Well, we may not recognize for certain till each bots make it to release. Early prototypes may not inform us tons past fundamental functionality, and rate info are scarce. Musk is predicting under $20,000, and Figure claims its robots could be "affordable," however that would effortlessly extrade.
Both corporations have additionally launched specifications for every bot. While those stats may also extrade with the very last product, we are able to nevertheless examine the facts we've got so far. The specifications as indexed inform us that Optimus is highly quicker than Figure 01. It can hit speeds of round 5 mph, whilst Figure 01 caps out at 2.five mph. Figure 01 additionally weighs a touch more, tipping the scales at simply over a hundred thirty pounds, whilst Tesla's bot is a trim 125.
Optimus is inches taller than Figure's effort, and assuming "20 KG payload" pertains to wearing capacity, each robots are across the same. They can each hoist forty five pounds, aleven though Tesla has a 150-pound "deadlift," and Figure has now no longer made any deadlift-associated claims.
While Tesla hasn't given us actual battery existence estimates for Optimus, Musk has claimed the bot could be capable of paintings "for a complete day" while not having to charge. Figure claims the Figure 01 can pass for 4 hours earlier than plugging in.
It's early days, and who is aware of how matters will extrade among now and the time those bots definitely hit the market. But as matters stand, Tesla appears to have a moderate aspect in terms of humanoid-formed robotic specifications.