Ο Ilon Musk, the founder and head of Tesla, presented a plan for development humanoid, metallic robot, capable of performing tedious, repetitive or dangerous tasks, based on the same technology that will be used in his company's semi-autonomous electric cars.
The eccentric billionaire promised that the prototype of what he christened Tesla Bot will be unveiled next year. He will have five fingers on his hands and an androgynous, black and white look.
The robot will have a «profound impact» on the US and global economy, Mr Musk discounted, as it will potentially end the shortage of workers and reduce wage costs. He added that he believes it is important that this robot is not «too expensive», without being more specific.
For him, «of course» Tesla is «the world's most important robotics company», as its cars are already robots on wheels, they are «conscious» when they are on the road, as they have software that allows them to be aware of their surroundings and move «autonomously» without driver intervention.
«It makes sense» therefore that there will be a Tesla robot «in humanoid form», he added.
Ilon Musk expressed his company's progress in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) at an event organised by his company.
Among other things, the purpose of the presentation, which mainly concerned the development of technologies to create fully autonomous cars, was for Tesla to attract young engineers.
Tesla is facing investigations into the driving assistance technologies it has developed for its vehicles, the Autopilot and Full Self Driving programmes, which are accused of giving motorists the false impression that their vehicles can be driven without any intervention from them whatsoever thanks to their cameras and computers, which is not the case.
The issue of surveys was not touched upon for the two hours and something that lasted the presentation and the question and answer phase from the audience.
The Tesla Bot will be around 1.73 metres tall and «friendly», however, «you will be able to outrun it by running faster than it’, as it will not be able to travel more than five kilometres per hour, Mr Musk joked.
The billionaire envisions that his company's robot will bring a world in which manual labour will no longer be compulsory, but an «option».
The man with the second largest fortune in the world according to Forbes magazine, has also founded start-ups such as SpaceX, the first private company to launch rockets capable of reaching space, and the first private company to launch a rocket capable of reaching space. Neuralink, which specialises in brain implants.
Mr Musk believes that AI will not compete with human civilisation and hopes that, thanks to Neuralink, there can be a «symbiotic relationship» between people and technologies.
At the event, in which Mr Musk presented microprocessors designed by his company for its ultra-high-speed computer, christened Dojo, he promised that the computer would be operational in 2022.
