On Tuesday morning, Elon Musk shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) showing off a brand new ability that Tesla humanoid robot Optimus has recently acquired. The robot – and you might be surprised to know this (or maybe not) – can now fold shirts independently! Is he building a robot butler?
In the video shared by Musk, the Optimus robot can be seen taking out a black shirt from a basket placed next to it on a table. After this it starts turning. The video is titled “Optimus Folds a Shirt”.
In a follow-up post in the thread, Musk says that currently, Optimus lacks the ability to perform this task autonomously. However, it is anticipated that it will achieve full autonomy and operate in diverse environments, eliminating the need for a fixed table with only a box containing a shirt, as seen in the video.
Elon Musk’s tweet reads, “Important note: Optimus can’t do this autonomously yet, but will definitely be able to do it completely autonomously and in an arbitrary environment (with a fixed There will be no need for a table that only has one shirt)”.
This comes a few months after Musk shared another post in which the Optimus humanoid robot can be seen walking, dancing and boiling eggs.
Musk unveiled Optimus Gen 2 in December 2023. The second version of the humanoid robot can do much more than walk and talk, which the first version could do to a great extent. The new version of the robot has increased walking speed, improved hand movements, tactile sensation on its fingers and many other enhancements.
The conceptual humanoid robot developed by Tesla, known as Tesla Optimus or Tesla Bot, was first introduced during the company’s AI Day event in 2021. This robot is designed to be a versatile, general-purpose machine capable of undertaking various tasks, especially those deemed unsafe, repetitive, or tedious for humans.
At the moment, Optimus is still in the development phase, and Tesla has been providing periodic updates to highlight its progress. The latest update, called Gen 2, reflects the latest developments in the development of robots.
In 2022, Tesla revealed a prototype capable of performing basic tasks such as walking and object retrieval. At the time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned during a presentation on stage that this was the inaugural demonstration of a robot working without wires. The video showed the robot successfully picking up objects and watering plants. Musk stressed the precautionary measures taken to prevent any mishap, saying, “We didn’t want it to fall flat.”
