The emperor's new robots

Just a quick check in to marvel at Tesla’s latest dancing robot video.

As you are probably aware, Tesla has been increasingly promoting its Optimus human-like droid. It is a robot designed to one day automate factories, bring down costs, and boost efficiency. You can probably find an Internet analysis piece that values the Optimus business at $1 trillion by 2026.

Each video has been more amazing than the last. To choose my words carefully, the last few have been almost unbelievable.

Feast your eyes…

I have many thoughts, ranging from awe to questions about the graininess in some of the more, to use the word carefully again, unbelievable moments.

But the real thing I keep coming back to is another robotics video I recently saw on Twitter. From a company near and dear to my heart, GXO.

A simple observation: It appears GXO’s “Digit” wouldn’t be able to dance the way Optimus can dance. Judging by the videos, Optimus is significantly more advanced than Digit when it comes to dexterity and ability to perform very specific, difficult tasks.

Yet, despite all of that, we are yet to see Optimus even attempt what Digit seemingly has mastered: Doing real work in a real work setting towards a real economic end.

It is a conundrum, to me at least, why Tesla has not unleashed the feature-full Optimus it shows in its demo videos into the working world. It seems almost derelict for Tesla to not be deploying a robot so advanced in its operations.

It reminds me of a decade ago, when Elon Musk was promoting his “alien dreadnaught” super-efficient factory that would allow for ultra-cheap cars while at the same time, in reality, using less automation than his Detroit rivals. We’re still waiting on that $30,000 car out by 2017 that innovation was to bring.

One might suggest there is a simple answer to why Optimus is not taking over the gigafactory. In fact, one could conclude I am suggesting a pretty simple, straightforward reason all is not as it seems with Optimus.

Obviously, I don’t know if that answer is correct. None of us do for sure. But if I was a Tesla shareholder with a significant portion of my net worth tied up in the stock, it is a question I would ponder closely.

No one will be able to say they didn’t see it coming…

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