Optimus Robot Folds Shirt On Script, True AI Still Years Away

• Optimus neatly folds a shirt, but not autonomously yet.
• Musk admits achieving full robot autonomy will take years.
• Tesla shows off an impressive animatronic that pushes boundaries, though true AI is perpetually just out of reach.

Impressive humanoid Optimus robot

A new video from Tesla shows its humanoid Optimus robot neatly folding a t-shirt, but CEO Elon Musk admits the bot isn’t operating autonomously yet.

While an impressive showcase of Optimus’ mechanical dexterity, the highly constrained demo relies on meticulous pre-programming rather than independent AI.

Autonomy challenges

Indeed, Musk says achieving full autonomy for such multi-step domestic tasks remains years away, likely beyond his lofty 3-5 year timeline predicted at Optimus’ debut.

For now, the robot’s laundry skills amount to expensive animatronics artfully acting out predetermined motions, more puppets than domestic workers.

Pushing boundaries

Still, building a bipedal machine capable of smoothly manipulating soft materials is an engineering feat.

Tesla is pushing the boundaries of humanoid robotics, even if true general intelligence lags far behind the flashy hype videos.

Elon is known for unrealistic timelines detached from development realities.

While an autonomous personal assistant may emerge one day, expect scripted Optimus press events well into the future, with the hardest challenges perpetually pending.