X overlord Elon Musk recently shared a clip of Tesla's robot Optimus folding a shirt. While the mundane feat was supposedly a demonstration of the robot's refined capabilities, instead it confirmed to me that current robotics are a little far from world domination.
As the owner of 2023's messiest rebrand (among other accolades) Musk's droid demonstration was underwhelming at best. Eagle-eyed viewers were quick to notice what appeared to be an engineer just off-screen controlling the robot's movements, suggesting that its groundbreaking autonomy was not as it seemed.
Optimus folds a shirt pic.twitter.com/3F5o3jVLq1January 15, 2024
The 30-second clip shows Optimus – a faceless humanoid robot – folding a shirt with slow yet surprisingly fluid skill. While some fans praised the technology, calling it "spooky" and "impressive", others criticised its slow movements and 'improper' folding technique.
Breaking the illusion, some users noted a hand appearing in the bottom right screen that seemed to control the robot's movements. Responding to astute viewers, Musk clarified that "Optimus cannot yet do this autonomously," making the video little more than a display of smooth mimicry.
Genuinely terrifying. Why are you building these?January 15, 2024
Optimus moves like a slug. I can’t imagine how long it would take it to fold an order of 1000 shirtsJanuary 16, 2024
'Hand' in lower right at edge of screen comes in/out of frame echoing movements. 👀👀👀. . pic.twitter.com/rW5AjHY2nWJanuary 15, 2024
While Musk's robot isn't as refined as competitors such as Boston Dynamics' robot dog or the AI-crafted walking robot, it reveals an intriguing side of Tesla's tech development. With plans to also advance in space travel and AI, it will be interesting to see which of Musk's grand ideas will actually take off.
