At Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in June, Elon Musk mentioned that the company’s market capitalization could someday exceed that of Microsoft or Apple. He believes that rather than electric cars, the primary driver of this growth will be the humanoid robot Optimus.
Musk foresees a future where robots will play a significant role not only in product manufacturing but also in people’s homes. However, he acknowledges that achieving this vision will likely take many years.
Starting at Home
In an X post on Monday, Musk announced that Tesla will initially use its humanoid robot internally. The company plans to deploy some units as early as next year, with the goal of making them available to external customers by 2026 once it’s manufactured more units.
Tesla already has two Optimus robots autonomously performing tasks at one of its facilities, and this new humanoid robot represents a significant advancement. However, it’s important to emphasize that these are currently prototype robots in the early stages of development.
In 2021, Musk revealed that the company was developing its own humanoid robot, which was publicly unveiled the following year. The initial version of Optimus made a stage appearance, waved, and even performed a few dance steps, but not much else. The company introduced an improved version in 2023.
However, Musk isn’t the only one investing in humanoid robots. Figure has at least one of its test units operating at a BMW factory. Meanwhile, Agility Robotics has entered into a partnership with Amazon to deploy its Digit robot in the e-commerce company’s operations centers.
One of the key capabilities of humanoid robots is their ability to perform tasks in environments designed for humans. This includes interacting with industrial machines, opening doors, navigating stairs, and moving between different rooms.
This article was written by Javier Marquez and originally published in Spanish on Xataka.
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