December 13th: The second generation of Tesla’s humanoid robot is here. Just today,Tesla released a video of Optimus-Gen2 (second-generation Optimus Prime) without any warning - less than three months have passed since the video of the first-generation Optimus' "Debut of the Embodied Intelligence End-to-End Solution" was released; and only nine months have passed since the first-generation Optimus was launched.


According to the video introduction, the second-generation Optimus is equipped with:Actuators and sensors designed by Tesla, 2 degrees of freedom drive neck, faster response 11 degrees of freedom dexterous hand, tactile sensor (ten fingers), actuator integrated electronics and wiring harness, foot force/torque sensor, articulated toes, etc.

Not only that, the second-generation Optimus has a number of significant performance improvements:Walking speed is increased by 30%, weight is reduced by 10kg, balance and whole body control are improved.


In the video of the first-generation Optimus, Tesla mostly focused on vision, sorting, single balancing and other capabilities. The latest second-generation Optimus debut video seems to focus more on movement and control - walking, balance, fine operation and perception.

In this video, Tesla takes a close-up of Optimus' feet while walking. Judging from the video,Different from the traditional one-piece sole, the second-generation Optimus' sole is divided into two parts, making the walking posture closer to humans.


Picture | Second generation Optimus
Picture | First generation Optimus

What’s even more striking is that since all ten fingers are equipped with finger tactile sensors,The second-generation Optimus can already hold eggs with two fingers.


It can be seen that with the support of iterative upgrades of software and hardware, the flexibility of the second-generation Optimus has greatly increased. Kaiyuan Securities reported on November 20 that Tesla’s humanoid robot prototype iteration is about to move from “functional realization” (B sample) to “mass production realization” (C sample).

This time Tesla did not disclose the specific method of the second-generation Optimus, only stating that "weight reduction does not require any (functional/performance) sacrifice." Kaiyuan Securities believes that humanoid robots carry limited power and need to use lightweight materials to reduce weight and increase battery life. The use of lightweight materials can improve the robot's load and flexibility, and help humanoid robots advance to high-end levels;PEEK is a high-end engineering plastic with a specific strength that is about 8 times that of aluminum alloy. It is an excellent solution for lightweighting.

In addition, for humanoid robots to enter homes, interact safely with humans, and dexterously operate various objects, tactile perception is the foundation. The second-generation Optimus has also made significant progress in this aspect.

Another report from Kaiyuan Securities stated that,Flexible tactile sensors (also known as "electronic skins") can detect characteristics such as contact force with the environment, temperature, humidity, vibration, material, softness and hardness, etc.It is an important sensor for robots to directly sense the effects of the environment, which helps intelligent humanoid robots achieve industrialization. Material technology and processing technology are the key technologies for flexible tactile sensors.

Generally speaking, with Tesla, Xiaopeng and others successively deploying humanoid robots, the entire industry is moving from 0 to 1.

When it comes to specific industrial chain links, Southwest Securities’ report on December 10 recommended focusing on the core links on the hardware side: 1) Screws with a relatively high value share: Best, Wuzhou Xinchun, Dingzhi Technology, and Qinchuan Machine Tool; 2) Core component reducers: Green Harmonic, Double Ring Transmission, Zhongli De; 3) Core components frameless torque motors, coreless motors: Inovance Technology, Hechuan Technology, and Kinko; 4) Robot body: Boshi Co., Ltd.

In addition, in terms of PEEK materials, Zhongyan Co., Ltd. has the mass production capacity of more than 1,000 tons of PEEK and is cooperating with Donghua University to develop CF/PEEK;

In terms of flexible tactile sensors, Hanwei Technology's flexible micro-nano sensor products have been applied in the field of medical devices. It has cooperated with Xiaomi Technology, Nine Technology, Shenzhen Keyi Robot, etc. in the field of intelligent robots; Su Shi Experiment is developing a flexible stress vibration sensor based on graphene; Ruihu Technology, a subsidiary of Hongxin Electronics, has a layout in the field of flexible pressure sensors.