Then Elon Musk's Optimus robots could come to your home

Elon Musk claimed this week that Tesla's humanoid robots will be “the greatest product ever” – sparking a lively debate about when and whether he will be able to integrate a robot into every home.

The walking, talking Optimus robots stole the show at an event Thursday night in Los Angeles to unveil the company's “Cybercar,” a self-driving taxi.

The almost 1.80 meter tall robots danced on stage to techno music, served fruity cocktails and played rock, paper and scissors.

Musk said the bots can do “basically anything you want” – like mow your lawn, clean the kitchen after dinner, watch your kids or just be a friend – and in the long run cost less than a car, namely between $20,000 and $30,000.

Musk did not comment on the timing on Thursday, but said earlier this year that Tesla might be able to sell the humanoid robots by the end of 2025.

Nevertheless, experts disagree about whether Musk can overcome many of the problems with bots in just a few years.

Dev Nag, CEO of QueryPal, a support automation company that uses artificial intelligence, said it will likely be five or more years before consumers see Optimus bots in their homes.

“The robot still faces challenges in areas such as safely walking on uneven terrain, lasting all day on a single battery charge, and safely navigating around people and pets – a thornier problem than it seems,” Nag said told The Post.

“While Musk is known for his ambitious timelines, most experts expect Optimus to first prove itself in factories and warehouses before it is ready for home use,” he said.

This is despite the impressive capabilities shown by the Optimus bots on Thursday evening.

“How is everyone?” a bartender bot wearing a cowboy hat and apron called out to the guests, with a hint of a Texas accent.

When a customer asked for a watermelon-flavored drink, the cowbot double-checked the order: “Watermelon? “Of course you can!”

Agnieszka Pilat, a robotics artist who works closely with Boston Dynamics and Agility Robotics, agreed that introducing the robots within five years is “very optimistic.”

The bots will likely initially be made available to billionaires and other high-profile individuals within five years, but full retail adoption will take about a decade, Pilat said.

“Mass adoption will take some time because it is very expensive. They are not used. The software is complicated and the hardware is complicated,” Pilat told The Post. “Where are the flying cars?”

On the other hand, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives – who said he spoke to an Optimus robot for more than an hour at Thursday night's event in Hollywood – is almost as optimistic as Musk.

He expects the bots to be in households by 2027.

The robots unveiled Thursday night are entirely “non-programmatic” and on track to be “fully autonomous,” Ives told The Post.

“What Tesla unveiled last night was mind-blowing,” he said. “Last night, I think it was a historic event.”

The Optimus bots were far more advanced than techies expected after Musk unveiled his “Tesla Bot” – a man who danced on stage in a robotic suit – in 2021 and showed off a prototype that had to be held on a stand in 2022.

Shawn DuBravac, CEO of the Avrio Institute, which helps companies anticipate technological changes, said household robots will eventually become as commonplace as washing machines and dishwashers.

But he agrees with other experts that there are many hurdles beyond price that Musk still needs to overcome.

“You can do simple tasks now, but full autonomy for complex household chores is still some time away,” DuBravac told The Post. “What makes other household robots, such as washing machines and dishwashers, so successful is their ability to complete discrete tasks with near-error, every time.”

According to DuBravac, Optimus also faces legal hurdles when it comes to security standards, data protection and liability in the event of a malfunction.

Musk's Tesla is “in the spotlight,” Ives admits. “If there is an incident with a robot, it will be scrutinized closely.”

Experts say Optimus could also face social and cultural challenges if rolled out across the board. But Ives argued that tech giants have overcome these hurdles before.

“In 2007, people saw the concept of smartphones as out of the loop,” Ives told The Post. “Now look where we are today.”