Elon Musk bets on robots.They could take a long time to arrive

(CNN) - Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, said Wednesday that he believes that the goal of humanoid robots is the most important thing in what he is working on.

The electric vehicle manufacturer announced its robots plans in its AI Day last year.Instead of showing some type of prototype, a person with a robot suit rigidly walked on stage and proceeded to dance, turn and pretend that the rope jumped."Obviously that was not real," Musk told the audience, after thanking the person for his performance as Robot.

In the company's profit call this Wednesday, Musk said about his planned robot: "I think this has the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business over time".

Musk and Tesla also revealed that they would not deliver the long -awaited Cybertruck, Roadster or Semi this year.The next morning, the actions collapsed and, although they dropped 6% at noon, suggested in a tweet that the robot could rebuild the economy and add billions in value.

But automobile robotics and manufacturing experts warn that humanoid robots are expensive, difficult to build and it is unlikely that they have a significant short -term impact on the automobile manufacturer.Even in controlled environments such as factories, where robots are more effective, it is unlikely that a significant impact will occur rapidly.And it will be much more difficult for robots to navigate other places like a person's home.

"History has taught us not to bet against technology and technologists," Jim Womack, author of "The Machine that changed the world" told CNN Business, which tells how the manufacture of car evolved in the twentieth century."But you can bet against deadlines and immediate impact".

The first step of the world change in a billion Musk dollars is to use the stakesto stubborn in Tesla factories.

"If we can't find a use, then we should not expect others to do it," said Musk.

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Womack said it seems unlikely that a humanoid robot changes the rules of the game for Tesla's ability to compete in the industry.Tesla can first use your planned robot to move pieces around its factories, Musk said on Wednesday.But it is unlikely that mobile pieces around a factory are a significant part of Tesla's costs, according to Womack.

"Optimus"

Tesla still has to reveal a prototype for her humanoid robot.Musk said Wednesday that Tesla would work this year in engineering and tools to create a robot, which he now calls "optimus".

Tesla said that the robot will measure 1.7 meters, weigh 56 kilos and can load 20 kilos.

Robots are commonly used in car manufacturing, for example, to help press metal in parts, weld the vehicle and paint it.But no humanoid robots are used, with two arms and legs.Tasks like placing a nut on a bolt are incredibly difficult for robots.(Musk himself warned before "excessive automation in Tesla was a mistake" and "humans are underestimated")).

Sangbae Kim, a MIT robot research professor, said that a challenge of humanoid robots like the one that imagines Tesla is that there are probably simpler solutions available to complete the tasks.

"A humanoid robot will not be as good to wash the dishes as the dishwasher," he said.

Other robots are also cheaper than humanoids.A four -legged robot, for example, is safer and more simple because it is easier to balance and its center of gravity tends to be lower.

Humanoid robotics

Tesla is not the only car manufacturer interested in humanoid robotics.Honda developed a series of robots known as "Asimo" for almost 20 years before disconnecting in 2018, and Hyundai bought Boston Dynamics in 2020.The company is better known for its viral YouTube videos that highlight the robot skills.

Chris Atkeson, professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies robots, said a humanoid robot could be useful if the robot needs legs to move around a messy floor.Humanoid robots also tend to be narrow, he said, so they adapt well to any narrow passage.

Womack, the automobile manufacturing expert, said that Musk's talk about robots came when the company announced that it would not deliver Cybertrucks, Semis or Roadsters this year, vehicles that customers have expected for a long time and that it was originally said that they would enter intoproduction in 2021, 2019 and 2020, respectively.

"There is a rather high correlation between Elon Musk's announcement of a new type of RUBE Goldberg activities and the lack of more than informing that investors could be really interested," said Womack, pointing out the previous announcement of "Total Self -Conduction"And the long wait since then to arrive.

"It seems that these things are always in line to a point where routine and regular business work are not very interesting.".

Tesla refused to comment.