Elon Musk revealed that Tesla has altered the design of its Optimus robot's finger joints featured in recently published patents. The original rolling contact joints, highlighted by robotics enthusiast Scott Walter, did not perform as intended. Musk shared this update in a post late on April 19.
Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot has been the subject of recent patent filings that detail innovative rolling contact finger joints. Scott Walter, posting under the handle @GoingBallistic5, broke down these designs, emphasizing their potential for more dexterous manipulation in humanoid robotics. The patents, newly published, showcase mechanisms aimed at improving the robot's hand functionality for real-world tasks. Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded directly to the discussion, stating in a post timestamped April 19 at 23:58 UTC: 'We already changed the design. This one didn’t actually work.' This admission highlights the iterative nature of development at Tesla's robotics division. Optimus, designed for general-purpose labor, continues to evolve through rapid prototyping and testing, with Musk's comment underscoring the challenges in perfecting fine motor skills for such machines.