Tesla has released an update on Optimus, the second generation of its humanoid robot.

On May 5, the official Tesla Optimus account posted to social media X a 90-second demonstration video of the Optimus robot “working” in a Tesla factory, with the caption, “Recently working on becoming useful!”

1797-PS2E2 In the video, Optimus is sorting cells on a production line. The video shows Optimus’ end-to-end neural network being trained to accurately repackage battery cells in Tesla’s factory; Optimus runs in real time on the robot’s FSD computer, relying only on 2D cameras, hand tactile and force sensors; Optimus uses its legs to maintain balance and relies on a neural network to drive its entire upper body.

The video also shows the process from Optimus’ point of view, and explains that the sorting operation requires very precise movements with low fault tolerance, and Optimus’ neural network can automatically locate the next free slot. In addition, Optimus can autonomously recover from failures.

The video also shows the operator wearing VR glasses and gloves to collect data through remote operation.

In addition, the video shows Optimus walking in a Tesla office, and explains that Optimus is now not only walking faster, but also going farther.

Notably, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also revealed at X that the Optimus hand will reach 22 degrees of freedom (the number of joints that can move independently) later this year.

The human hand has 22 degrees of freedom, including the wrist. According to Tesla’s previous release, the Optimus hand has 11 degrees of freedom, while many competitors have only six to seven degrees of freedom. Optimus’ 22 degrees of freedom mean it’s going one step further.

Later, Milan Kovac, head of the Optimus project, reposted a video of the Tesla Optimus and wrote about the progress of the Optimus.

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He said that in the past few months, Tesla has built more robots and collected artificial intelligence data from them. The team has now trained and deployed a neural network that allows Optimus to begin performing useful tasks, such as picking up cells that have been passed down a conveyor belt and placing them precisely into trays.

1797-PS2E2 The neural network operates entirely end-to-end, meaning that it directly generates joint control sequences using only video from the robot’s two-dimensional cameras, as well as on-board ontology sensors. It runs entirely on the robot’s embedded FSD computer, powered by onboard batteries.

Kovac says Optimus, while not perfect and a little slow, is getting better success rates and failing less frequently. The team is also training Optimus to recover from failures and has already shown autonomous corrective behavior.

Kovac also stressed that Tesla is working on making Optimus move faster and deal with more difficult terrain, but all of this work will not sacrifice its “human-like” nature. He revealed that more updates are coming soon.

Julian Ibarz, the engineer in charge of Tesla’s robot AI, also posted that Tesla improved the reliability of the learning behavior of the entire Optimus team and decided to introduce some robots in the factory to perform a really useful task: sorting batteries. The autonomous behavior shown in the video can run for hours until the robot needs to be recharged.

Jim Fan, senior scientist at Nvidia and head of the General Embodied Agent Research Program, also praised Optimus’ latest development. The Optimus team released an important update, he says, and the video gives us an insight into their “human data collection farm,” which, in my opinion, is Optimus’ biggest lead.

The Optimus robot prototype was first unveiled at Tesla’s second annual Artificial Intelligence Day on October 1, 2022. Musk has repeatedly stressed that the Optimus robotics project will be more valuable than the automotive business and FSD.