Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday that the toughest part about building the company’s Optimus humanoid robot is improving its design to ease manufacturing and readying a complex supply chain for mass production.
What Happened: “The toughest part by far is improving the design of Optimus for ease of manufacturing and tooling up a complex supply chain, so it can be made in significant numbers,” Musk wrote in a post on social media platform X. The CEO was responding computer programmer John Carmack who expressed doubts regarding the near term utility of humanoid robots.
“Long term, driven be AGI, sure, they are going to be an enormous economic engine, but business plans that have them making a dent in the next five years seem unlikely,” Carmack said.
Musk responded by saying that Optimus is already doing some tasks in the Tesla factory and the scope of its ability is “increasing rapidly.”
Why It Matters: During Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in June, Musk said that there will be at least one humanoid robot for every person in the world in the future, implying a total humanoid robot population of at least 10 billion or more, of which the EV company will have a significant share.
"While autonomous vehicle is a $5-$7 trillion market cap situation, Optimus is a $25 trillion market cap situation," Musk then said.
Musk expects to be able to sell Optimus at $10,000 or $20,000, at a lower price point than Tesla's cheapest Model 3 sedan, once it reaches high-volume production.
In July, the CEO also said that the EV company would have “genuinely useful” humanoid robots in low production for use within its factories next year. The company will “hopefully” increase production for other customers in 2026, he said.
Last month, the company showcased its Optimus bots at its robotaxi unveiling event in Los Angeles.
About 20 active robots walked through the crowd assembled at the event. Optimus poured drinks, handed out snacks, and performed dance moves. However, the robots were human-assisted to "some extent” to showcase the company’s vision at the event, Head of Engineering For Optimus Milan Kovac said in a post on X.
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