I have been musing about Elon's prediction of manufacturing millions of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots a year starting next year. Tesla stopped producing the S and X to make room in their Fremont factory for Optimus production; and even more will be made at the gigafactory in Texas.

Regardless of the financial risk of this move by Tesla, will the demand--at least for domestic use--be anything like what Elon envisions?

And more important, perhaps: how will our society deal with the reintroduction of "servants" in middle-class households? There is clearly some societal revulsion--properly--against anything that is reminiscent of slavery; and more recently, when "labor-saving devices" such as the washing machine and dishwasher were introduced, the hiring of household help disappeared. Looking at TV shows from the 1950's where a pleasant and wise Negro woman was a fixture of some sitcoms, don't we feel uncomfortable with that?

So will this negative attitude toward "household help" carry over to robots? Should it?

It's thought that the price of an Optimus will be in the range of a used car--maybe $30,000. Would you buy one so your wife doesn't have to do menailalabor like folding clothes, doing the laundry? What about cooking meals--cutting up veggies, mixing ingredients, putting a casserole in the oven?

How about you? Optimus for sure can mow the lawn, probably do the landscaping, wash the car; help out with moving lumber for your wood shop. You can imagine lots of things. Chop wood for the fireplace?

My question is not whether humanoid robots CAN be useful in household jobs, it's how society will respond.

BTW I'm leaving sexbots out of this discussion, please.

Bring on the robots and hurry the hell up with it! Society is barely hanging on at this point and could collapse at any second

I love new technology; I'm very slow to adopt it.

I definitely DO NOT want a robot in my house. At all.

Totally understand, vthoky. I'm thinking more about my wife; my age, but getting more frail. Has brain fog most days; dizziness some days; feels uncomfortable driving most days. Not that we have a lot of household chores, and I do the ones she can't. But I can envision a lot of people thinking they want one. I just doubt it's going to be in the millions.
Now, if I were a building contractor....

AAANd your flooring thread made me think: one reason my woodworking is limited, other than laziness, is my bad back. Moving especially sheet goods around is really hard on my back. Oppie, can you put that 4x8 sheet of 3/4 prefinished maple on the cutting table?

How well can they get that built up carbon off of baffles and chambers, and how fast can they load mags?

Not sure I want one, other than having it mow the yard, trim shrubs, clean the house, cook ok maybe I want one, the wife would love it at least from the standpoint of relief from those chores...

wonder if it would make a good sweet potato pie....

One word: M3GAN

quote:

Originally posted by Creeping_Death:
and how fast can they load mags?

I have wondered if I could build a pick-and-place or similar to load mags, perhaps having it employ a MagLula...

I'm gonna need to see the nighttime containment protocols and cell.

In the beginning people will buy one (or more) as status symbols for no other reasons, but if we’re willing to get into a car driven by a robot on the public highways, why not let one mow the lawn? On the other hand, “AI will never be able to do my job,” may be correct, but how about a robot?

I won¡t buy the 1st edition, but if it can mow the grass, hell yea.

Look around your house and compare it to your parents, grandparents. We have houses full of stuff to make life easier or more enjoyable.

We have a vacuum that runs around the house, automatic shades and lights, wireless computers and smart TVs. Give me a robot the will do the laundry and cut the grass and I'm all in.

I already have a few stray cats and a pup.

No robots for me.**

** I don't have to worry about the spaniel selling my info for a quick buck... yet.

Where’s the meme of tough choices for the liberal crowd who would gladly take a robot servant but don’t want to support Musk?

quote:

but don’t want to support Musk?

I can imagine all sorts of tortures--drawn and quartered for example--that AWFLs could think of for an Optimus. I would just hope the cameras would record the offender, and that a Tesla Mossad-like entity would go and take care of the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
I would just hope the cameras would record the offender, and that a Tesla Mossad-like entity would go and take care of the problem.

I give you VIKI

My sister and I had a conversation about this last week.

She and her husband are not in the best of health but are fiercely independent. Her thoughts are that if it can postpone going into a retirement home she’s all for it. And for about $30k it will probably be cheaper too.

Then you have to think about the military application as well. Robots could revolutionize warfare as we know it.

Thirdly, there are many very dangerous occupations that could benefit by having them done by robots.

In short, I think it will be revolutionary.

Heck ya. But I want the Cherry 2000.

I would get one if it raked up the mesquite debris in my yard and cleaned the pool. It can stay in the shed in my back yard.