- Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will begin low-volume development of a humanoid robot for internal use at the end of next year.
- Data analytics firm GlobalData predicts that the overall robotics market will be worth $218 billion by 2030.
OUR TAKE
Tesla unveiled the first generation of the Optimus Prime humanoid robot, known as Bumblebee, in September 2022. On January 17, Musk posted a video of the second-generation Optimus Prime humanoid robot folding a shirt by itself at the company’s factory. Humanoid robots would be an important step for Tesla to take a leading position in artificial intelligence.
–Zora Lin, BTW reporter
What happened
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announces on July 22 that by the end of next year, Tesla will be working on low-volume development of humanoid robots for internal use at the company.
Musk writes on his social media platform X that Tesla’s humanoid robot is “on track” to be in high production by 2026. He thinks robots could make up a higher percentage of Tesla’s sales than other products, including cars.
“I think Tesla is in the best position of any humanoid robot manufacturer to be able to go to mass production by making valid inferences about the robot itself,” Musk says.
According to research and analytics firm GlobalData, the entire robotics market will be worth $218 billion by 2030, demonstrating the high growth potential of robotics in the coming years.
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Why it’s important
A number of tech companies around the world are already betting on the humanoid robot circuit to cope with potential Labour shortages and to try to replace humans in industries such as logistics, warehousing, retail and manufacturing, performing repetitive tasks that can be dangerous or tedious.
GlobalData senior analyst Isabel Al-Dhahir previously says: “Advances in artificial intelligence have facilitated the development of robots, making them highly complex products, rather than standalone, fixed-function machines as in the past.”
Elon Musk announces the company’s mass production development of humanoid robots, showing Tesla’s strategic investment in future technological development, and plans to take a leading position in automation and robotics. It also demonstrates the importance of humanoid robotics in global technological and economic development, as well as the broad impact and business opportunities it could bring.
