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The end of somms and bartenders? Tesla’s Optimus robots serve drinks
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has already disrupted the automotive and social media sectors, but now he may be about to revolutionise hospitality.
At the latest Cybercab event, Musk unveiled the latest version of the Tesla Optimus robots, who walked amongst the audience, even speaking to them and showcasing their conversational skills.
Crucially, it also showed how robots could be used in the hospitality and drinks trade, with the products serving beverages to the audience present at the event – as hightlighted below.
The videos of conversations with the device, and considering Musk’s own development of AI through his Grok platform, it is easy to also imagine a world where a bar robot will be given a comprehensive, encyclopaedic knowledge of wines, spirits and beers, offering the customer a bespoke service in a venue.
A conversation between Tesla Optimus bot and a human is the best thing you’ll see on the internet today.
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) October 11, 2024
Musk said: “The Optimus will walk amongst you. You’ll be able to walk right up to them, and they will serve drinks.”
According to Musk, who also showcased the Optimus robots delivering packages and watering paths in a video, the robots would be truly universal and able to “do anything”.
Other examples given by Musk included being a teacher, babysitting, walking a dog, even mowing the lawn. In addition, he added that he didn’t want the robots to be for billionaires or even multi-millionaires, and that it would be affordable to all.
Personal C3p0
He said: “We started out with someone in a robot suit, and we’ve progressed dramatically year-after-year.
“So, if you extrapolate this, you really will have something spectacular. Something that anyone can own. You can have your own personal (Star Wars characters) R2D2 or C3PO.
“At scale, this will cost $20,000 to $30,000. Probably less than a car, is my prediction, long term.”
“I think this will be the biggest product ever, of any kind.”
As a result of having their own robots, Musk predicts the costs of services will reduce and it will be “an age of abundance” unlike we have ever known, and “something special”.
Pulling drinks
Following Musk’s presentation, the live video stream of the event on social media showed attendees meeting and greeting (and getting selfies) with the robots.
One appeared to be pulling drinks from a tap into a glass and handing it to guests.
Optimus just made me a drink pic.twitter.com/Pn9hfhrFDi
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) October 11, 2024
In terms of future plans for the robot, Musk said previously said that a device could be sold by the end of next year, although in his speech last night he was keen to stress that commerciality was “long term”.
The pace of development has also been impressive though. It was only in 2021 that Musk revealed a man in a robot suit, but two years ago an initial prototype was revealed, before this latest iteration.
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