The video posted by the billionaire on Saturday in X was of such low quality that it looked like it was shot on a phone that was relevant two decades ago.
At the time, the video had been viewed by more than 30 million users, but as Gizmodohalf an hour later, Musk replaced it with a higher-resolution video. (Interestingly, edited tweets usually display a note at the bottom about the correction and the time when it happened — but Elon’s post does not.)
Meanwhile, users competed with the robot in a joke competition under the post, offering their own versions of why the video was so poorly made:
The previous Optimus video posted by Musk also noted — then on the video the engineer who controlled the robot’s movements was shown.
It’s been a little over two years since Elon Musk announced that Tesla was moving toward developing humanoid robots. The company is quite quickly launched prototypes— and to this day we have seen one assembled model that barely moved, and another that stood on a stand and waved to the audience. At the same time, in the promo that followed the presentation, the robots walk more confidently and interact with the environment.
In December, Tesla (also only for promo)introduced second-generation robots — Optimus was reported to have two degrees of freedom in its neck, integrated electronics and wiring, and more human-like leg shapes with articulated toes and torque sensors. The robot’s arms are equipped with 11 degrees of freedom, faster actuators, and tactile sensors on all fingers to manipulate objects more dexterously (the video demonstrates the skill on chicken eggs).