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Hindustan Times
11 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Optimus by Tesla: The robot that could change everything
Only a few of us who are old enough would recognize the below familiar tune. Tesla says Optimus possesses a 'real-brain' which leverages knowledge of real-world AI from their autonomous driving technology. 'She's a small wonder… a child unlike other girls… She's a miracle and I grant you.. She'll enchant you at first sight… She's fantastic.. made of plastic… Microchips here and there.. She's a small wonder.' As a young boy, I watched Small wonder without missing an episode and had a real wish to see the day where Robots made of microchips (just like Vicky from Small wonder) would dance, do ballet, cook and do household chores. And the day finally arrived with no less than Elon Musk taking it upon himself to make it happen. The name Optimus is an inspiration from the main character from Transformers – Optimus Prime. Recently, a video of a prototype Optimus Robot from the Tesla factory doing some smooth dance moves broke the internet. What was really impressive about the video was the dexterity of the robot that was not a step out of tune (That's more than what can be said for most humans). It is worthwhile noting that Optimus currently has 11 degrees of freedom which is to be upgraded to 22! It is notable that Elon Musk thinks Optimus could be the biggest product of all time. The primary purpose of Optimus will be to remove labor shortages and free humans from repetitive tasks. Musk's long-term vision is to have a robot-human ratio of 1:1 with billions of these robots serving as personal and industrial assistants. Optimus Gen 3 displays advanced balance and mobility. In one of the videos, Optimus walks on a steep gravel covered hill and even recovers from a slip. This test was apparently performed solely relying on sensors and neural networks. Optimus' gait now more or less resembles that of a human with it being capable of performing complex ballet moves, walking up or down stairs too. In another of the videos, Optimus appears to be gently breaking an egg to cook it. This is revolutionary as this means that Optimus is able to adjust its grip pressure while distinguishing objects based on softness. Optimus' demonstrated capabilities include catching small balls, threading cables, folding clothes with finesse, stacking blocks, pouring water, and catching a baseball. When you aim for 99% autonomy like Optimus does, Artificial intelligence is inevitable. Tesla says Optimus possesses a 'real-brain' which leverages knowledge of real-world AI from their autonomous driving technology. Tesla goes by a Simulation-first approach using the Dojo supercomputer environment and reinforcement learning to train movements. Regarding battery life, Optimus is expected to have 8–10-hour battery life per charge requiring about 10 minutes to replenish up to 70% of the battery. Expected lifespan is about 8-10 years. Tesla has tried to allay safety, privacy and job displacement concerns. Optimus is equipped with sensors to detect imbalances and hardware faults, initiating a controlled shutdown to gently lower objects and assume a support stance. In a system crash, it is programmed to freeze in place. Video and audio recordings, Tesla says, never leave the device unless it is specifically chosen to be shared by the user. There are two things about Optimus that are game changers. The expected cost and expected production. Target price is about $20,000 with Musk estimating that it could drop as low as $10,000 at scale. The price point is expected to make personal robots accessible to millions around the globe. The other game changer is Tesla's plan for mass production with the goal of manufacturing 1,000 Optimus robots per month initially. Hundreds of Optimus robots are already deployed in Tesla offices and the Fremont factory for internal testing and basic tasks. Musk expects production to reach at least 5,000 units in 2025, with a target of 50,000 to 100,000 in 2026 and an ambitious goal of 500,000 units by 2027. The ultimate target is millions of units per year by 2030. Potential commercial release is expected to be as early as Q4 are competitors to Optimus such as Boston Dynamics and Unitre Robotics but none are in the same zone as Tesla with respect to their mass production and sale price points. Are we at the start of the upheaval of the social fabric called work? So, what happens when Optimus does everything a human can do? With exceptional motor skills plus an AI brain, the day is just around the corner that all human labor will be replaced by a Tesla Optimus robot. Other Robots until now were different in the sense that they could replace only a few tasks. But Optimus aims to do ALL tasks that a human can do. Humans will soon need a replacement to the social fabric that currently holds society together – Work. So, would you be one of the early ones to bring an Optimus home? I would certainly be one.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Tesla quarterly deliveries seen falling again
Tesla is expected to report another fall in quarterly deliveries on Wednesday as the backlash against CEO Elon Musk's political views and competitive pressures continue to drag on demand. While much of Tesla's trillion-dollar valuation hangs on Musk's bet on commercializing robotaxis, most of the company's current revenue and profits come from its core business of selling electric vehicles - one that has been under pressure due to high interest rates and rising competition. The global EV market has been growing, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years, but annual sales of Tesla's aging lineup fell for the first time in 2024. While Musk has said sales will return to growth in 2025 - a pullback from his earlier promise of 20-30% growth - analysts expect an 8% sales decline this year. For the second quarter ended June, Tesla is expected to deliver 394,380 units, according to 23 analysts polled by Visible Alpha. That would be a drop of more than 11% year-over-year, and would follow a 13% decline the company reported in the previous quarter. Tesla has said the fall last quarter was due to a pause in production to shift to a refreshed version of its best-selling Model Y SUV, and analysts had said many customers were delaying purchases as they waited for it to roll out. "I think a lot of analysts were thinking this quarter would have a bump positive because of the new Model Y," said Ross Gerber, CEO of Tesla investor Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management. "But the new Model Y in my mind isn't such a departure from the old Model Y," he said, adding that demand for the model did not live up to expectations. Instead, people bought fewer Tesla vehicles. Some prospective buyers were irked by Musk's public embrace of far-right politics in Europe and work for U.S. President Donald Trump overseeing cuts to federal jobs and funding. Though Musk has shifted his focus back to his companies, the backlash, along with customers choosing cheaper Chinese EVs, led to the fifth straight month of falling sales for Tesla in Europe, with a 27.9% drop in May, data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association showed. In China, Tesla's share of the EV market has fallen to 7.6% for the first five months of 2025, from 10% last year and a peak of 15% in 2020, as competitors won over consumers with snazzy, new, feature-packed EVs. Xiaomi's YU7 SUV received exceptionally strong orders hours after going on sale last week and fanned speculation that Tesla may have to cut prices to fight back. "Lagging sales in Europe compared to the rest of the EV market and the increasing competition in China are both working against Tesla going forward," said Sam Fiorani, vice president at research firm AutoForecast Solutions. To achieve Musk's target of returning to growth this year, Tesla - if those second-quarter estimates are accurate - would need to hand over more than a million units in the second half, which would be a record and a tough challenge, according to Wall Street analysts, although typically sales are stronger in the latter half. Some help could come from Tesla's planned cheaper model - expected to be a stripped down Model Y - that the company has said it will start producing by June end. Reuters reported in April it would be delayed by at least a few months. After tanking early this year amid angry anti-Musk protests, Tesla shares have regained some ground recently. Last month, the company rolled out about a dozen robotaxis in a limited part of Austin, Texas, ferrying a small group of invited fans for a nominal fee but with a safety monitor and other restrictions.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Wall Street is split as Tesla and tech drop while most other U.S. stocks climb
A mixed day of trading left the U.S. stock market split on Tuesday as Wall Street's momentum slowed after setting record highs in each of the last two days. The S&P 500 dipped 0.1% for its first loss in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 400 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.8%. Tesla tugged on the market as the relationship between its CEO, Elon Musk, and President Donald Trump soured even further. Once allies, the two have clashed recently, and Trump suggested there's potentially 'BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED' by scrutinising subsidies, contracts or other government spending going to Musk's companies. Tesla fell 5.3% and was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. It has lost just over a quarter of its value so far this year, 25.5%, in large part because of Musk's and Trump's feud. Drops for several darlings of the artificial-intelligence frenzy also weighed on the market. Nvidia's decline of 3% was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. But more stocks within the index rose than fell, led by several casino companies. They rallied following a report showing better-than-expected growth in overall gaming revenue in Macao, China's casino hub. Las Vegas Sands gained 8.9%, Wynn Resorts climbed 8.8% and MGM Resorts International rose 7.3%. Automakers outside of Tesla were also strong, with General Motors up 5.7% and Ford Motor up 4.6%. All told, the S&P 500 slipped 6.94 points to 6,198.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 400.17 to 44,494.94, and the Nasdaq composite fell 166.84 to 20,202.89. The overall U.S. stock market has made a stunning recovery from its springtime sell-off of roughly 20%. But challenges still lie ahead for Wall Street, with one of the largest being the continued threat of Trump's tariffs. Many of Trump's stiff proposed taxes on imports are currently on pause, and they're scheduled to kick into effect in about a week. Depending on how big they are, they could hurt the economy and worsen inflation. Washington is also making progress on proposed cuts to tax rates and other measures that could send the U.S. government's debt spiraling higher, which could raise inflation. That in turn could mean higher interest rates, which would hurt prices for bonds, stocks and other investments. Despite such challenges, strategists at Barclays say they see signals of euphoria among some investors. The strategists say a measure that tries to show how much 'excess optimism' is in the market is not far from the peaks seen during the 'meme stock' craze that sent GameStop to market-bending heights or to the dot-com bubble at the turn of the millennium. Other signals include demand for what are known as 'blank-check companies,' which are essentially piles of cash that hunt for privately held companies to buy. When too much optimism is in the market, it can inflate stock prices to too-high levels in what's called a 'bubble.' Of course, 'market bubbles are infamously difficult to predict and can endure far longer than anticipated before correcting,' according to the Barclays strategists led by Stefano Pascale and Anshul Gupta. In the bond market, Treasury yields swiveled following some mixed reports on the U.S. economy. One said U.S. employers were advertising more job openings at the end of May than the month before and than economists expected. That could be an encouraging signal for a job market that had been appearing to settle into a low-hire, low-fire state. Separate reports on U.S. manufacturing were more mixed. One from the Institute for Supply Management said U.S. manufacturing activity shrank again in June, though not by as much as the month before. 'Customers do not want to make commitments in the wake of massive tariff uncertainty,' one survey respondent in the fabricated metal products industry said. A separate report from S&P Global suggested manufacturing production returned to growth in June after three months of declines. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.24%, where it was late Monday, after bouncing from a modest loss to a modest gain earlier in the day. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with its main interest rate, rose more sharply to 3.77% from 3.72%. Better-than-expected data on the economy could push the Fed to stay on pause with interest rates, after it halted its cuts to rates at the start of this year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said again on Tuesday that he wants to wait for more evidence about how Trump's tariffs will affect the economy and inflation before resuming cuts to interest rates. That's despite Trump's angry insistences lately that Powell and the Fed act more quickly to give the economy a boost through lower rates. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.2%, and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.6% for two of the larger moves.
