Today at Tesla’s “AI Day” press occasion, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled an early prototype of its Optimus humanoid robotic, which emerged from behind a curtain, walked round, waved, and “raised the roof” with its arms to the beat of techno music.

It was a dangerous reveal for the prototype, which appeared considerably unsteady on its toes. “Literally the primary time the robotic has operated with out a tether was on stage tonight,” mentioned Musk. Shortly afterward, Tesla workers rolled a sleeker-looking Optimus mannequin supported by a stand onto the stage that might not but stand by itself. It waved and lifted its legs. Later, it slumped over whereas Musk spoke.

The whole stay robotic demonstration lasted roughly seven minutes, and the agency additionally performed an illustration video of the strolling Optimus prototype choosing up a field and placing it down, watering a plant, and shifting steel elements in a factory-like setting—all whereas tethered to an overhead cable. The video additionally confirmed a 3D-rendered view of the world that represents what the Optimus robotic can see.

Tesla first introduced its plans to constructed a humanoid robotic throughout its AI Day occasion in August of final yr. During that earlier occasion, a human wearing a spandex go well with resembling a robotic and did the Charleston on stage, which prompted skepticism within the press.

At the AI Event immediately, Musk and his staff emphasised that the strolling prototype was an early demo developed in roughly six months utilizing “semi-off the shelf actuators,” and that the sleeker mannequin rather more carefully resembled the “Version 1” unit they needed to ship. He mentioned it could most likely be capable of stroll in a couple of weeks.

Goals of the Optimus challenge embrace high-volume manufacturing (presumably “thousands and thousands of models bought,” mentioned Musk), low-cost (“most likely lower than $20,000”), and high-reliability. Comparing the plans for Optimus to current humanoid robots from rivals, Musk additionally emphasised that the Optimus robotic ought to have the brains-on-board to work autonomously, citing Tesla’s work with its automotive Autopilot system.

Shortly afterward, Musk handed over the stage to Tesla engineers that gave overviews about growing the ability methods, actuators, and joint mechanisms that will make Optimus doable, replete with fancy graphs however with few concrete specifics about how they’d apply to a transport product. “We are carrying over most of our design expertise from the automotive to the robotic,” mentioned one engineer, whereas one other engineer mentioned they drew a lot of their inspiration from human biology, particularly in joint design.

Earlier within the demonstration, Musk mentioned that they have been having the occasion to “persuade a number of the most gifted individuals on the planet to return to Tesla and assist carry this to fruition.” Musk additionally emphasised the publicly-owned nature of Tesla a number of instances, mentioning that if the general public does not like what Tesla is doing they may buy inventory and vote in opposition to it. “If I’m going loopy, you’ll be able to fireplace me,” he mentioned.

After the whole two-and-a-half hour presentation, which additionally included prolonged updates on Tesla’s work with Autopilot AI, the Tesla staff gathered on stage to present detailed answered questions from the viewers for over an hour.

[This is a developing story and will be updated as new information comes in.]