Tesla robot appears to fold clothes in video, but details remain secret

Entrepreneur Elon Musk shared a new video Optimus, the robot developed by Tesla. The clip was published on the billionaire’s account on the social network X, his former Twitter name.

In the thirty-second long video, Optimus is seen folding a T-shirt with precise, agile and complex movements. He can take one piece at a time from the basket, calmly fold it and place the finished object in the corner of the table..

Optimus folds the shirt pic.twitter.com/3F5o3jVLq1

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 15, 2024

In the background of the clip, it is possible to see other Optimus units still under construction.

The robot, still referred to as Tesla Bot, was first introduced in August 2021. The billionaire’s idea is for this to be a multi-purpose piece of equipment, from being a companion to an assistant in household and mundane tasks.

This is the most complex action ever performed and publicly revealed by Optimus. Earlier in the clips, she was seen carefully holding eggs and even walking.

Can Optimus really fold clothes?

Musk’s statement was followed by evidence in the video itself that the robot was not actually moving on its own. Actually he probably followed commands given by a human.

A. Forbes In one part of the clip, he detected the following: In the right corner of the screen it is possible to notice a hand whose movement is copied by Optimus Almost instantly. In other words, a programmer or engineer performs the actions with his own hands using sensor equipment, while the robot only imitates.

While it looks pretty impressive, Forbes notes: This type of imitation technology is already decades old and this does not mean that the robot can actually do this in other situations.

After the video was published, Musk published an update on the content. The businessman’s speech lowers expectations for the clip and tries to anticipate some criticism.

“Important note: Optimus can’t do this autonomously yet, but he will definitely be able to do it fully automatically and in an on-demand environment (without needing a fixed desk with just a box containing a t-shirt),” says the billionaire.

So far, Musk has not commented specifically on Forbes’ discovery. Optimus There is no expected release date yet and there is no information on what the price of the equipment will be.