At a recent Tesla event in Los Angeles, Elon Musk impressed guests with his Optimus robots, which acted as bartenders and interacted with visitors. Many were amazed by the apparent autonomy of these machines. However, it turned out that these robots were not entirely autonomous.
Technology enthusiast Robert Scoble, who attended the event, became interested in the robots’ level of autonomy and decided to ask them a few questions. The answers he received raised doubts about the machines’ independence. One of the “Optimus” robots replied to Scoble’s question about autonomy: “Maybe, partially,” which only reinforced suspicions about human intervention behind the scenes.
This is not the first time Tesla has been accused of using “magic” during demonstrations. Earlier this year, attentive viewers noticed a human hand helping a robot fold laundry in a demo video. And while Musk claims his robots will be able to perform tasks like mowing lawns or babysitting, for now, most of their functions appear to be controlled by humans.
Some readers of the news on the Gizmodo website did not miss the chance to fully mock Tesla’s latest blunder. However, others noted that even such robots could find use in the police or military.
