Tesla Optimus robot /Image source: Tesla AI
Elon Musk revealed two Optimus prototypes at Tesla AI Day 2022, promising to make the robots as quickly as possible, eventually selling millions, which could allow humanoids to become available to the masses.
🤖If you could someday afford and own (or even just rent) an Optimus robot what would you like it to be programmed to do?
😛 Some of my first thoughts are a bit tongue-in-cheek (see list below). Some tasks may not be appreciated by the people who actually do some of these tasks for a living, but hey, it’s early days.
If these robots could be used for good, such as helping mobilise the elderly in their homes and getting them out and about when there is a lack of a human workforce to carry out these tasks, then we could see more acceptance of “humanoids”. Just this use alone could help elderly people stay in their homes, rather than have to go into elderly care homes should that be their wish.
Labour-saving is a positive aspect of robotics, but of course, there are some creepy sides to it, too. Having a camera-based robot feed in your home is one; data gathering and sharing or even theft are another. But much like people who choose to use an Amazon Alexa device in their homes, it’s all about personal preferences, convenience and appetite for data or privacy risk.
But if humanoids do become commonplace and affordable, here are a few tasks I wouldn’t mind handing over (a bit tongue-in-cheek).
What’s your Optimus Robot Task wish list?
Here are a few of mine…
– Let the dogs out at 545 AM, throw a ball around a bit, then feed them
– Make my espresso and bring it to me in bed; you can bring hubby up a tea, too
– Tell me the top business headlines
– Make breakfasts for the family
– Pack the school lunches
– Do the school run
– Clean the house
– Laundry
– Cook meals
– Clean the car
– Weeding and heavy gardening tasks
– Walk the dogs (and please pick up and dispose of their mess)
– Take out the rubbish and sort the recycling
– Weekly mani-pedis
– Deal with the children’s eye-rolling (Optimus, please don’t poke their eyes out – non-violent means, please – maybe Elon could programme in some no-nonsense Ted Talks that you could play about any given eye-rolling matter?)
– Help kids with their math homework in that new method they are teaching these days
– Destroy that cold caller list that has Mr. X living here. We’ve told the cold callers that he no longer lives here and has joined a cult, but they keep calling!
