Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot greets runners, poses for photos at Boston Marathon
SMRTR summary
A humanoid robot standing at the finish line of one of the world's most iconic races. That was the scene at the Boston Marathon this week, where Tesla stationed its Optimus robot outside its Boylston Street showroom, just steps from where more than 30,000 runners crossed the finish line.
The move cost Tesla nothing in advertising, yet placed its robot in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators from around the globe.
But across the Pacific, China took humanoid robotics somewhere far more dramatic. A day earlier in Beijing, dozens of robots ran an actual half-marathon alongside humans. The winner, a bipedal robot called "Lightning," finished in just over 50 minutes, reportedly beating the human world record.
"The future will definitely be an AI era," said Chu Tianqi, a 23-year-old engineering student watching the Beijing race. "If people don't know how to use AI now... they will definitely become obsolete."
Two marathons. Two very different visions of what these machines can do.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Interesting Engineering.
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