Tesla unveils upgraded Optimus robot hand, but impressive demo is again teleoperated

Tesla has unveiled a new and upgraded hand for its Optimus humanoid robot and released an impressive albeit still teleoperated demonstration.

The Optimus program is somewhat controversial for Tesla. This is partly because it is a significant departure from Tesla’s core products, but the company has also created doubts about things like not disclosing that its robots at its recent ‘We, Robot’ were remotely operated by humans.

It wasn’t as much that they needed to be teleoperated, but the fact that Tesla didn’t disclose it until after the event.

Now, Tesla has released a new video to demonstrate Optimus’ latest robot hand:

The new hand is much more realistic, and it actually has tendons, much like a human hand. Tesla says that it has 22 degrees of freedom on the hand and another three on the wrist and forearm.

This time, Tesla was quicker to confirm that this Optimus was also teleoperated in this demonstration.

Milan Kovac, the head of the Optimus program, elaborated about what’s next in the short term for the robot:

There’s still some work to finish by the end of year, in particular around extended tactile sensing integration (much more surface coverage than the previous hand), very fine controls through tendons, and shaving some weight off the forearm. All actuation has been moved to the forearm, which has increased its weight. Interesting challenge around having enough squishiness/compliance and a protective layer on the fingers and palm, without affecting tactile sensing too much.

Tesla says that it is already using some Optimus robots in its factory as it continues to develop the program, but it is expected to ramp up next year.

Electrek’s Take

Useful hands and dexterity are some of the hardest parts of humanoid robots, and it looks like Tesla is making significant progress on that front.

I actually don’t mind the teleoperated part. It’s only when Tesla doesn’t disclose it, like at the ‘We, Robot’, that it becomes a problem for me.

What I find exciting with humanoid robots right now is the improvements in robotics reaching a level where the robots can actually achieve dexterity and autonomy on par with or surpassing humans, just as AI is improving at an impressive pace to use that dexterity and autonomy.

You want robotics to be ready by the time AI achieves high levels enough to be useful within those robots. It looks like Tesla is getting close to that on the robotics front, and I have no doubt that AI will be there soon.

In fact, I believe that Tesla will achieve humanoid robot usefulness at scale before it does unsupervised robotaxi at scale.

Humans achieve levels of useful dexterity sooner than they can operate vehicles at high speeds in complex environments. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same for AI.