“I will break up with my girlfriend to buy one”
Without warning, on the morning of December 13, US time, Billionaire Elon Musk posted a video on social network X/Twitter, officially announcing Tesla’s new generation of humanoid robots – Optimus Prime II.

The performance in the video left all X/Twitter users stunned and attention was especially focused on the smoothness of the movements of the robot’s hand and joints.

One social network user even commented happily that they wanted to break up with their girlfriend and buy a female version of Optimus Prime II.

Looking in more detail at the video, it can be seen that this generation of Optimus Prime has the ability to control details of the hands including raising and checking the hand, holding the left and right hands. These images really create the feeling that the robot is about to take a step forward and throw us over its shoulder

It is known that each of Optimus Prime II’s 10 fingers is equipped with a sensor that helps the robot see which finger is grasping something.

It can be said that the robot’s balancing ability could have been done in real time – for example, the video shows it picking up an egg with two fingers, passing it from the left hand to the right hand and then slowly placing it down, with a series of graceful movements.

The right side of the screen also shows how the thumbs and index fingers of the robot’s left and right hands apply force as well as where the fingers touch the egg.The previous generation of Optimus Prime could only grasp objects simply with the palm of his hand, and it was unthinkable for a robot to control just one finger at that time.

Not only is Optimus Prime II 30% faster than the previous generation, it can also perform a perfect squat at a 90° angle.

Please underestimate this simple squat, because you have to make it up to standard, such as your knees cannot go beyond your toes, squat as hard as you can… in short, this is a test movement. Test the coordination ability of joints throughout the body.

It can be said that the video is giving hints about a future where Tesla’s robots become PTs (GYM trainers).

In addition, Optimus Prime II walks up to 30% more agile and is much more “human” than the previous generation. However, it should be noted that this walking posture looks like the robot is quite similar to an “old man” who can hardly do heavy work.

According to Tesla’s official statement, similar sensors on the hand are also installed on the toes and ankles to make Optimus Prime II’s walking posture more human-like.

More importantly, all of those sensors are developed by Tesla itself.

It should be noted that Optimus Prime II is now very flexible, but just about two years ago, the humanoid robot was just a new concept design announced by Mr. Musk.

At that time, Tesla positioned the robot as a pre-programmed device to perform all physical activities, and it took them just over a year to go from design to physical object.​

However, when it was first released, the first generation Optimus Prime received a lot of criticism – at that time it could not even walk on its own, and on the outside it was quite simple with wires around it.

And the only task it can do is move boxes – meaning the robot can only be used to water flowers.

However, Optimus Prime practiced walking diligently.

In May 2023, it learned to classify different blocks and grasp objects with ease. By September 2023, the first generation Optimus Prime was able to perform difficult yoga exercises smoothly.

But now that Optimus Prime II has arrived, it not only achieves the same capabilities but also exceeds them as its predecessor – and this shows the extremely rapid progress of the project.

Why did Tesla want to build humanoid robots?

Mr. Musk’s main goal when developing this humanoid robot is to be able to penetrate ordinary households to do manual labor. Tesla also announced on X/Twitter that their robot development is to liberate humans by 2024.

It is known that Mr. Musk also mentioned that 10 Optimus Prime robots have been produced on the production line and they are expected to be used at Tesla factories.

If the Optimus Prime robot line continues to grow at this rate, it is estimated that it won’t be long before consumers can buy one as an assistant. However, there is still one barrier, and that is the selling price for “normal households” that Mr. Musk expects to be 25,000 USD (606 million VND).​

Why do we have to waste effort to create humanoid robots?

On the one hand, our current tools such as the height of the kitchen countertop, the size of the stairs… are all created according to human needs and measurements.

By turning the robot into human form, we don’t need to waste effort creating a new environment for it. .

On the other hand, if the robot is made into a human shape, it can also adapt to posture data and image data that can be used by humans. In this way, humanoid robots fit well into our imagination of “human assistants”.