Are robots going to replace human workers? Yes, they have  already started to do so. To accelerate the trend Tesla is looking recruiting humans to train its Optimus-Gen2 robot.

Elon Musk officially unveiled Tesla's foray into autonomous robotics at its AI Day event in August 2021. Three years later it  is already on the third iteration of its humanoid robot, Optimus Gen 2, as shown in this video.

Optimus Gen 2 acts autonomously thanks to the combination of computer vision and a neural network and is already capable of performing some tasks on the factory floor. In this video we see Optimus Gen 2 that has been taught to place electric battery cells from a rack into a container. It is working autonomously and has some degree of artificial intelligence in that when it makes an error and misplaces a battery, it's able to correct it. In this case training was conducted by hooking people up to gloves and a headset system so that they could teleoperate the robot through the task. After sufficient tele-operations, the robot is able to do the same task without human help. 

Tesla currently has openings in Palo Alto for Data Collection Operator, Tesla Bot. The blurb states:

Tesla is looking for highly motivated and adaptive individuals to support Tesla’s data collection team. The primary objectives of this role are to collect data, assist with engineering requests, and report equipment feedback.

The successful candidate for this position must be able to make data driven decisions and be comfortable working in a dynamic & fast paced work environment. We are looking for someone with enthusiasm for the field of robotics and a strong desire to contribute to the development of Tesla Bot.

As the job entails wearing a motion capture suit to train the robot Tesla's specific requirements are for individuals between 5’7’’ and 5’11’’  tall capable of walking for over seven hours a day while carrying up to 30 pounds. The role also involves wearing a VR headset for “extended periods of time” so previous experience with VR equipment is a plus. The job sounds physically demanding with requisites including:

• Continuous hand/eye coordination and fine manipulation, body coordination, and kinesthetic awareness and ability to walk up/downstairs
• Must have the ability to stand, sit, walk, stoop, bend, reach, crouch, and twist throughout the day

Remuneration for this role is:

$25.25 - $48.00/hour, depending on level + cash and stock awards + benefits

The list of benefits is pretty impressive so the good news is that the Tesla Bot project also has openings for deep learning, computer vision, motion planning, controls, mechanical and general software engineers.

Having humans train robots seems to be a necessary step towards robots being useful and Tesla seems well positioned to do it.

More Information

Tesla AI and Robotics

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