Elon Musk loves to focus, and this year it looks like it could be robots. He told investors in Tesla's earnings call that his nascent robot plans "could become more significant than the auto business over time."
And they will be the most important things Tesla has been working on this year.
The robot in question, part of a project dubbed Optimus, was previewed last year (to raised eyebrows) by a man in a robot suit dancing on stage. And the performance has become a popular Internet meme.
As it has been dubbed, the Tesla Bot will use the same artificial intelligence (AI) systems used to power Tesla vehicles. Musk said at an event last August. However, the prototype has yet to be built.
He also said that the yet-to-be-built 5'8" robot would have a screen on its "face" and be able to lift 150 pounds and move at about 5 miles per hour.
Musk told investors this week that the first application of the humanoid robot would be in a Tesla factory, where "moving parts would move around the plant or something."
But in the future, he sees that this will help solve the problem of labor shortages.
Further, he tweeted earlier this week, "Tesla AI could play a role in AGI [artificial general intelligence] given it trains against the external world, primarily with the birth of Optimus."
AGI refers to a machine's ability to learn or understand tasks that humans are currently performing. Mr. Musk has previously warned that AI risks killing human civilization.
Additionally, in the same Twitter thread, he tweeted, "Decentralized control over robots will be critical."
Besides, Robot ethics professor Alan Winfield of the University of the West of England said, AGI is a complicated problem.
The idea that you can hack AGI because you built an uncrewed vehicle is absurd.
"Google and Facebook have hired some of the best AI people in the world. Besides, the idea that Musk could come in and fix the problem is arrogant in the extreme."
However, Musk enjoys challenging tasks, from autonomous cars to missions to Mars, and has had many successes.
For example, SpaceX's reusable rockets are considered a big step forward for space travel.
Pepper has been one of the most famous robots, performing at events worldwide. But previous attempts to create cost-effective humanoid robots for the mass market have failed.
In June, Japanese conglomerate Softbank announced the production of Pepper. Unfortunately, the friendly tiny humanoid had been put on hold and would only resume when the robots were needed, much to the anguish of the literary constituency that utilized them.
However, according to the International Federation of Robotics, robots are increasingly being used in factories around the world. There are now an average of 126 robots per 10,000 employees in the manufacturing industry.
Many remain skeptical of Musk's plans. "Anyone who believes Tesla is constructing a humanoid robot is dwelling in an alternate reality," Accel Robotics software engineer Philip Pekniewski tweeted.
Moreover, professor of cognitive robotics Tony Prescott of the University of Sheffield told BBC News that Musk would face many challenges.
"If it is used in a factory, then a wheeled robot will be much easier to build. In addition, it will not have problems with balance, but then it will not be a humanoid," he said.