Soviet Union also utilized Elon Musk's trickery techniques with robots in the 1950s.
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Elon Musk's reveal of his robotaxi and humanoid robots at Thursday's event garnered booming applause, despite the Cybercab prototype’s uncertain release. The Optimus bots stole the show with their performances, conversing, playing games, and even serving drinks, albeit with a hidden catch. As tech evangelist Robert Scoble unveiled in a tweet, complete with a video from the Warner Bros. event, it appeared the Optimus robots were operating independently. However, it turns out these bots were under the control of unseen humans, a fact Musk allegedly failed to disclose.
Scoble was still effusive in his admiration for the technology, but it added a layer of ambiguity to the presentation. After all, tele-operation of robots, often termed Waldo, has existed since at least the 1940s. Walt Disney employed the technique to create lifelike robotics for his attractions in the 1960s.
While Disney was honest about his use of tele-ops for its intended show, Musk's omission of this detail left some social media users feeling deceived. Musk’s penchant for exaggerating the capabilities of forthcoming products was reminiscent of RCA-Whirlpool's Miracle Kitchen from the 1950s, an attraction showcasing advanced technology at a tech fair during an attempt at thawing U.S.-Soviet relations. Deceptively, the kitchen's vacuum robot, which wowed visitors with its self-driving features, was in fact operated by a hidden human.
The Miracle Kitchen, replete with its mock human-assisted robots, was the highlight of the 1959 fair in Russia and functioned as a powerful propaganda tool. Musk's seemingly dazzling demonstration on Thursday bears a striking resemblance to the Miracle Kitchen. Some criticized the event for its lack of specifics, while others questioned the lengthy timeline for the Cybercab and Optimus robot deliveries.
Remember Musk's ambitious Loop project, promising high-speed autonomous transportation in places like Chicago and Las Vegas? Instead of the expected 150 mph, we received conventional Teslas driven by humans traveling at a mere 35 mph through a tunnel beneath Las Vegas. At least Musk's robots thus far refrain from shouting slurs, though there’s no guarantee that may not change.
- Robert Scoble, despite the hidden control of Optimus robots during Elon Musk's event, still expressed admiration for the technology on Twitter.
- Some social media users felt deceived by Musk's omission of the tele-operated robots at the event, comparing it to RCA-Whirlpool's Miracle Kitchen in the 1950s.
- Analogous to the Miracle Kitchen, Musk's demonstration of the Optimus robots on Thursday left some critics questioning the event's integrity due to a lack of specifics and lengthy delivery timelines.
- Just as the vacuum robot in the Miracle Kitchen was manipulated by humans, there's a possibility that Musk's robots may exhibit unexpected behaviors in the future, such as shouting slurs.
