Tesla unveils humanoid robot that can pick up an egg without breaking it

Tesla has debuted a new version of its humanoid robot that can squat without falling over and pick up an egg without breaking it.

Elon Musk’s electric car company has teased updates to the company’s Optimus automaton in a video posted on Twitter.

In a demonstration video, Tesla’s robotics division showed off what it called Optimus “Gen 2”. The company said the robot could walk 30pc faster, was 10kg lighter and had improved balance and hand movements compared to its previous model.

The clip showed the robot doing squats and flexing its fingers, as well as showing Optimus boiling an egg to demonstrate advances with “delicate object manipulation”. The video ended with two robots dancing to electronic music.

A previous update from September showed Tesla’s earlier Optimus robot sorting objects of different colours and performing yoga stretches.

Mr Musk first revealed Tesla’s Optimus robotics programme in 2021. The billionaire has claimed the robots could one day eliminate “dangerous, repetitive and boring tasks”.

Tesla has long worked on autonomous and robotics technology, automating its warehouses and deploying self-driving car software in its electric vehicles.

Mr Musk previously said the company’s robots will be designed to be “friendly”. He has also said Optimus will be designed so that people “can run away from it – and more likely overpower it”.

Debuting the robot in 2021, Mr Musk said: “Hopefully that doesn’t ever happen, but you never know. Five mph – if you can run faster than that you will be fine.”

Analysts have dismissed Tesla’s Optimus efforts as a sideshow or a gimmick, while robotics experts have questioned the company’s innovations compared to rivals that have been attempting to build similar machines for years.

Robotics pioneer Filip Piekniewski wrote on Twitter shortly after Optimus was first revealed: “Anybody who thinks Tesla is actually building a humanoid robot is living in an alternate reality. Mars bases is [sic] more likely than the bot.”

Other technology companies are already deploying humanoid robots. In October, Amazon revealed Digit, a bipedal robot that can lift and sort empty baskets in its warehouses. The machines stand 5ft 9 inches tall, weighs 65kg and can carry up to 35kg.

Boston Dynamics, which is owned by Hyundai and previously controlled by Google, has built a bulky headless robot known as Atlas that can run and jump.

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