1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:04,080 This is the Elon Musk Podcast, your daily hit of what is really 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:08,160 going on at Tesla, SpaceX, XAI, and the rest of the Musk 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:10,320 universe. I'm your host Will Walden, and I 4 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,720 have covered Elon Musk for more than five years, spent a year on 5 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,360 the ground at SpaceX, Starbase during early Starship 6 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:18,440 development. And before this, I spent my 7 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,800 career as a software developer working with billion dollar 8 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,600 companies. I've also built and sold my own 9 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,000 businesses. And now I make content and help 10 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:29,520 other people grow their companies. 11 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,520 And on this show, I use that experience to break down the 12 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:37,040 news, filter out all the noise, and give you clear context you 13 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:43,720 can actually use. Recently, Elon Musk has laid out 14 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,680 a concrete goal for the companies Optimist Robot. 15 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:51,040 He says Optimist could one day perform surgery with high skill, 16 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,840 giving every patient access to top tier care. 17 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:57,120 And of course, that is if they could pay for it. 18 00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,800 He links that vision to a broader shift to test the toward 19 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,280 technology that reaches into daily life. 20 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,000 And he points out that a shortage of skilled surgeons and 21 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,640 suggest robots can close that gap. 22 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,720 And as we know, people have been using telemedicine, Tele 23 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,440 robotics to perform surgeries for a while. 24 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,640 But if the fingers can be nimble enough in an optimist robot, 25 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:25,320 Elon Musk thinks that yes, Elon Musk's optimist robot could 26 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:28,600 perform heart surgery on people. But can a general purpose robot 27 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,880 earn enough trust in the operating room? 28 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:36,400 Tesla plans a new Optimist showcase in early of 2026, and 29 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:38,800 the company is building the manufacturing line it says will 30 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,120 scale toward 1,000,000 units a year. 31 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,280 Now, in this episode, I'll explain what Optimist can do 32 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,680 today, what Tesla says will change by the next model, and 33 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,960 what it would take for any robot to approach autonomous clinical 34 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:52,960 work. Also, breakdown the regulatory 35 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,640 wall that stands between a demo and a cleared medical device. 36 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,480 And we're gonna talk about what this plan signals to investors. 37 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:05,200 And we will get right into that after this very, very short 38 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:09,080 break. Now, Tesla positions Optimus as 39 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:12,360 a pathway from clean energy and cars into everyday robotics. 40 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:16,840 The company frames this as part of Master Plan Part 4, an 41 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,720 expansion from electrification to general technology that 42 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,160 tackles skilled tasks in the physical world. 43 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:25,680 That reset moves the discussion from quarterly vehicle numbers 44 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:28,800 to whether a new class of hardware and AI can take over 45 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:33,520 fine motor work. Now today's optimist can walk, 46 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,280 lift light items and handle fragile objects like eggs 47 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,560 without breaking them. Those are non trivial steps 48 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:45,000 because they require balance, object reorientation and grip 49 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,560 control that does not crush or drop that egg. 50 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,760 Tesla says the next iteration, expected for early 2026, will 51 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:57,160 include a handmade up of far more small components to enable 52 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:01,120 finer manipulation. That change, if it ships as 53 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,880 promised, would aim at the dexterity ceiling that separates 54 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,520 a warehouse picker from a surgical suture. 55 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,360 Now, Tesla says it is building manufacturing lines so the robot 56 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:17,240 can be produced at scale. The ambition here is up to 57 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,280 1,000,000 units per year once a full build is underway. 58 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:25,760 Mass production matters because volume spreads costs and pushes 59 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:27,880 suppliers to standardize parts around the design. 60 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,920 And volume also invites a software platform approach where 61 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:36,120 one hardware base runs different skills for homes, factories, and 62 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,680 eventually clinics. Now my analysis is that a large 63 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,440 installed base would let Tesla train and improve manipulation 64 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,400 skills faster, but it would not by itself grant clinical trust. 65 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:52,200 Elon Musk and Tesla have to earn that trust now. 66 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,920 Tesla's leadership connects optimist to healthcare by naming 67 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:59,520 surgery as a future target. The pitch is access. 68 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,280 Everybody could have a robot surgeon if a robot could perform 69 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:07,840 precise procedures reliably. Rural hospitals in undersupplied 70 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,240 regions could schedule care without waiting for scarce 71 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:15,120 specialists. The claim assumes safe autonomy 72 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,399 or near autonomy and high stakes settings. 73 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,400 Now my analysis is that even if Optimist progresses quickly, the 74 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,800 bar for surgical work is not a simple extension of warehouse 75 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:30,640 dexterity because surgical tasks couple fine motion with 76 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:35,040 millisecond level reactions to living tissue and changing 77 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,160 vitals. These are real people that the 78 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,880 Optimist robot is working on. This isn't a test. 79 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:45,040 These are people's lives on the line and this robot has to act 80 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:48,880 like a human, but better. It has to have the dexterity of 81 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,880 the top surgeons in the world, but better. 82 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,200 Now regulation sits at the center of that gap. 83 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:59,040 Though most medical robots in use today operate as tools 84 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,360 guided by human surgeon in the room and they went through 85 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:07,360 device specific testing and also those people have been trained 86 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,760 for decades. A robot that acts with broad 87 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,240 autonomy would face a higher standard stepwise validation and 88 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:18,480 multi year trials that match specific indications now. 89 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,440 Tesla would need to document safety at each stage, prove 90 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,800 failure handling for edge cases, and show repeatability across 91 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:29,480 patient autonomy, anatomy, and hospital environments. 92 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,760 Now, I think that even with strong engineering, the review 93 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:38,560 timeline alone stretches any aggressive schedule. 94 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:41,640 The thing can barely pick up an egg right now. 95 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:45,400 It doesn't break an egg. That's great, but can it handle 96 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:50,360 a tool like a scalpel? Can it pick up a scalpel and 97 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:55,000 manipulate it, roll it in its fingers and also use it to 98 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,920 precisely cut into a person's body? 99 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:04,480 Only then, And that's one small thing that it has to do. 100 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:10,880 It has to do so many more things to become a successful surgeon, 101 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:15,440 for it to become a successful healthcare provider. 102 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,320 Now, I'm not counting Tesla and this robot out. 103 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:24,000 Optimus is a work of art. It's an amazing piece of 104 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,880 engineering, but when Elon says, and we all know Elon Musk time, 105 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:32,720 right when he says something's going to happen in two years, we 106 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,920 know not to hold our breath because it's probably not going 107 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:40,240 to happen in two years. Just like Tesla's full self 108 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:42,680 driving. It really hasn't happened yet. 109 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:44,560 Full autonomous driving hasn't happened yet. 110 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,280 He's been promising this since the beginning of Tesla. 111 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:53,240 Also, something like the Super heavy, the Starship super heavy, 112 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:58,200 he has said that it should be on the moon by now and of course 113 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,680 that didn't happen and you know why? 114 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:02,400 There is a lot of different reasons. 115 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,400 One of those reasons is regulatory strangleholds which 116 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:08,720 happened at Star base when I was there. 117 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:11,720 When I was on the side of the road on Hwy. 4 and I was 118 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:20,880 reporting on the Starship, the FAA was put in place to hold up 119 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:22,160 Tesla. At that point. 120 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:24,760 There was a lot of stuff going on, environmental reviews. 121 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,200 They had to review that whole environment so SpaceX could 122 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:30,920 launch the Starship. And because of that, they were 123 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:35,560 behind about nine months. Now, with my time there, I know 124 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:40,960 that they do work aggressively, and if the Optimist robot team 125 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:46,160 are working just as aggressively as SpaceX was on the Starship, I 126 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,520 know they're working hard and I know that they want this thing 127 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,960 to succeed as fast as possible. Now, regulations, now that's 128 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:55,320 another thing. There's going to be a lot of red 129 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,960 tape. Even if Optimist can do certain 130 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:05,400 things, how do you get it into an environment and test it and 131 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,560 make sure that everything is OK with regulations and also with 132 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:10,240 the robot and also with the patient. 133 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,000 It's going to take years, maybe a decade from now before this 134 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,520 thing actually does real work on a person. 135 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,840 I'm not saying like stitch somebody or put a Band-Aid on 136 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:24,600 somebody. I'm saying like this thing can 137 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:28,240 you walk into an operating room and you see a team of optimist 138 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:30,520 robots. Each team has a specialty. 139 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,440 Each person on the team has a specialty and that robot itself 140 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,880 knows everything about that specialty and can do that job 141 00:08:38,159 --> 00:08:39,960 better than a human. That's not going to happen 142 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,360 anytime soon. I, I hope it happens in the next 143 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:44,440 20 years because that would be an amazing feat. 144 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,880 And if these robots are as affordable as Elon says they're 145 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:52,240 going to be, he says 20 thousand, $30,000, something 146 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:57,080 around that. Then yes, the hospital in rural 147 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,920 America, the hospital where I grew up in the middle of 148 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:03,480 nowhere, in the middle of the forest could have an optimist 149 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:05,400 robot. And that optimist robot could 150 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:10,040 save hundreds of lives. It's a car crash, people 151 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:14,680 bleeding out the optimist robot. You could have a dozen optimist 152 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:19,080 robots ready to go at any time. Instead of having a specialist 153 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:23,120 come in from a city that's two hours away, instead of having a 154 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,360 specialist come in from someplace that's far away, then 155 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:29,440 specialist is already asleep. 2 hour drive. 156 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,240 But also you have to wake the specialist up. 157 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:34,840 You have to get them ready. That takes 15 or 20 minutes. 158 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,120 These people are dying in your operating room. 159 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:41,320 You could have a dozen Optimist robots ready to take over when 160 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,840 that accident happened and these people show up at the ER and 161 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:49,440 they are ready to be worked on. Now, if that's going to be the 162 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:52,240 case in the next 20 years, this is going to revolutionize 163 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:54,800 healthcare. This is going to save so many 164 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:58,800 people, and the population is going to go up as well. 165 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:01,920 So what is the overall outcome of this? 166 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:06,840 People will survive longer, more people will be alive for a 167 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:12,320 longer amount of time, and also the costs for surgery will go 168 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,720 down tremendously because surgeons will be getting cut out 169 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,600 of the whole process. Do you think that's going to 170 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,160 happen easily? Do you think surgeons are going 171 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:24,960 to be replaced by robots overnight? 172 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:29,000 I don't think so. Surgeons and also hospital 173 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:34,920 workers, you know what? They have Ways and Means to 174 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:38,200 fight this. They have unions. 175 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:41,280 And this is not going to happen without a huge fight from the 176 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:43,200 surgeons. Those people that paid 100,000 177 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:47,760 two, $100,000 to get that degree to be the best surgeon, the best 178 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,440 brain surgeon in their area. Of course they're not going to 179 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:54,320 go down without a fight. I mean, they're not going to, 180 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:01,920 the hospitals are not going to take these Optimus robots in for 181 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:03,920 high end surgeries for a long time anyway. 182 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:09,640 And by that time, the little things, the triage, you know, 183 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:15,640 getting people into the system and seeing them if they have a 184 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,440 cut or a scrape, something like that, or stitches, that's cool. 185 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:23,400 But if they need them for high end surgery, that's going to be. 186 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:27,320 And I don't, I hate to be this person that's always, I'm not 187 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,760 always like this. I'm never, I don't want things 188 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:33,000 to happen far down the line because I want to see them 189 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,480 happen. I want to see this robot and I 190 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:41,400 want to see other robots in this space do surgeries because I 191 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:44,440 think it's going to help so many people and I want to help a lot 192 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:46,000 of people. So I don't want to be the 193 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:50,000 naysayer here, but I know how technology works and I know what 194 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:57,400 it's like to get any sort of practical application for 195 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:03,440 healthcare from a robot. Even even Apple, when they made 196 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:08,360 the, the, the Apple Watch and they started putting health 197 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,240 gadgets on it, there was a lot of regulatory tape. 198 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:14,360 They have to go through all that and Optimist can't even like 199 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:17,320 sometimes they can barely walk. It dances around a little bit, 200 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,000 but we've all seen the Optimist robot stumble around. 201 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:24,680 You can't have that in a surgical environment. 202 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:26,480 You can't have that at a hospital. 203 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,680 Now, the next 6 models, 7 models, sure they'll be better. 204 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:37,160 And of course the robotics and the AI that is trained on it's 205 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,040 going to be so much better in the next 3-4 years. 206 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:46,400 And we have seen great growth by the optimist team and the robots 207 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:47,880 have been getting so much better. 208 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:56,080 But doing a doing surgery is going to be a a wild thing for 209 00:12:56,080 --> 00:13:00,280 this thing. A Tesla says it is still early 210 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:04,160 and that work though and moving from general hand to a surgical 211 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:08,160 capable system would require sterile field design materials 212 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,600 that withstand cleaning protocols, biocompatibility, 213 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:16,240 sensor redundancy, fail safe controls that degrade gracefully 214 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:19,000 if a component slips outside its normal range. 215 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:23,200 So if the dexterity in the finger stops working when it's 216 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:26,920 to say they have somebody opened up and something happens in the 217 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,200 dexterity the the hand fails, what happens then? 218 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:33,800 Do they send in a real surgeon, a person surgeon to take over 219 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:38,640 and they have to have fail safe controls that it just doesn't 220 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,720 happen You know if a component slips outside its normal range 221 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:44,520 it needs to have a backup, needs to have redundancies. 222 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,960 Hospitals would need training pathways for staff too if this 223 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,800 happens. Procedures for pre op checks and 224 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:55,960 incident reporting automation would be a huge factor for these 225 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,120 types of robots. And 3rd, you know, those are 226 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:03,840 baseline requirements before a pilot even touches a patient, 227 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,080 before any sort of optimist robot touches a person. 228 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:13,400 Now, engineering for hands is the next step. 229 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,720 Tesla says the next hand will have more small parts to expand 230 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,680 Fine motor control. A surgical task such as tying a 231 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:25,280 knot, placing A suture at a specific depth or handling 232 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:29,520 delicate tissue requires fingertip for sensing, tactile 233 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:33,600 feedback loops and high frequency control that dampens 234 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:39,680 tremor while preserving speed. Cameras and depth sensors must 235 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:45,960 resolve soft tissue without losing tracking in fluids, body 236 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:53,600 fluids, and so a path exists for this, but only if software 237 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:57,480 sensing and actuation progress is in lockstep. 238 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:02,840 A stronger hand without robust perception will not deliver even 239 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:10,920 one safe stitch. Now Elon and Tesla planned for 240 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,600 one million robots a year. They are going to make the 241 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:19,360 supply chain for actuators, sensors, and the compute plus 242 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,480 test rigs that validate every joint before shipping these 243 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:26,160 things out. It's like making vehicles but 244 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:27,680 instead of making vehicles you make robots. 245 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:31,360 It's all an assembly line. It also implies field service 246 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:35,160 networks, replacement parts, logistics, and over the air 247 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,040 update discipline that treats a hand controller bug as a safety 248 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,960 issue and not just a delay. And also when do they do the 249 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,920 over the air updates? Is it when optimist is docked? 250 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:52,880 If there's a recall, when do they recall these? 251 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:57,320 And if there's a big enough recall in there are optimist 252 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:00,440 robots all over the country, all over the world performing 253 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:05,480 surgeries and the recall happens in the the recall is for surgery 254 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:09,040 robots immediately. What happens then if Tesla 255 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:11,280 reaches volume in non medical environments? 256 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:15,120 First, it could bank telemetry to tune manipulation models. 257 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:21,680 So what that means is that they ship out a million robots. 258 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,600 Every one of those robots, just like Tesla's vehicles right now, 259 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,160 test the environment. They test every part of that 260 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:34,120 robot until they get so much data that they'll be able to 261 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:40,920 make the medical robots. This data would be valuable but 262 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,720 would still need domain adaptation before they inform 263 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:49,080 clinical moves. You know, I've been digging 264 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:50,960 through the analysis of the show. 265 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaking of analysis, and notice that 37% of you are following 266 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:59,240 this channel, which I love you, thank you and for you I am 267 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,160 forever grateful. And the other 63% haven't hit 268 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:03,600 the follower subscribe button yet. 269 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,040 And I've been an independent journalist covering Elon Musk 270 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:09,240 Space Flight in tech for the last six years. 271 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:11,680 And I'm going to continue for the next 10 years. 272 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:15,440 All I ask for you is one second of your time and you just hit 273 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,359 the follow or subscribe button on the platform you're on, which 274 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:19,960 you're watching or listening on right now. 275 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,560 I'm extremely grateful for you and I'm blessed to have you in 276 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:25,839 this community. So thank you for doing that. 277 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,200 Now they have to be clinically ready as well. 278 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:35,680 They have to prove sub millimeter accuracy on bench 279 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:39,800 tests with standardized phantoms that mimic human tissue. 280 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:42,400 That has to be in the works for years. 281 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:46,160 Second, complete supervised procedures in simulation and 282 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:49,600 animal models where the robot handles part of a task while the 283 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:53,680 human controls the rest. Third, conduct early human 284 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:57,720 trials for tightly defined steps like holding and positioning 285 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:01,760 instruments while a surgeon, a human surgeon executes the 286 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:05,160 critical cut. Now each milestone needs 287 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,320 quantified failure modes, alarm thresholds, and intervention 288 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:15,280 handoffs. Medical robots must earn the 289 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:20,960 trust of real surgeons, little by little, every tiny step. 290 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:24,200 Now humans will be in this loop for every step. 291 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,480 They'll remain essential for years, maybe decades. 292 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:31,720 Even advanced robots will face edge cases such as unexpected 293 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:36,120 bleeding and allergic reaction or tissue differences that could 294 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:39,800 confound pre op. Imaging systems must escalate to 295 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,520 a human and accept immediate override without lag. 296 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,400 People should be able to take over at any moment. 297 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,760 Training will focus on teams, not just those machines. 298 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:56,360 So anesthesiologist, nurses and surgeons act from a shared 299 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:01,880 mental model and what the robot does, what it is sensing and 300 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,680 when it will pause, we'll all be monitored by people. 301 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:09,320 The most credible near term optimist use in a hospital would 302 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:13,000 be non invasive logistics, sterile handling, or room 303 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:19,080 turnover where error costs very very little and throughput still 304 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:23,120 improves care. Now, would you want an optimist 305 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:28,160 robot to operate on you or even dress your bandage to stitch you 306 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,440 up? Now, the promise of universal 307 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:37,160 access to top care is a huge thing, but people might not want 308 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:41,360 it in a patient education must match the reality of early 309 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:44,400 deployments for the trials. Stay transparent about what the 310 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:46,360 robot controls and what a human controls. 311 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:51,640 That's a good thing. Tesla must tell in all of its 312 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:55,840 marketing that humans are still in control for a very long time 313 00:19:56,360 --> 00:20:00,280 and if there's any incident risks, this is going to set them 314 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:04,200 back tremendously. They need steady, transparent 315 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:08,600 reporting on task level outcomes because if they don't do that, 316 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,320 people will not trust this robot and they will not want it to 317 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:15,560 operate on them. You know, there will be some 318 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,480 early adopters and that's great. We need those people. 319 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,800 We did those people that really want a robot to be their surgeon 320 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,640 and not a trained professional who's been going through school 321 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:31,560 for 10 years. So I don't know the the Tesla 322 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:37,360 road map for 2026 will be an early proof point hopefully. 323 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:41,880 Do they do a great demo? A finer manipulation, and it 324 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,280 would show whether the new hand delivers controlled, repeatable 325 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:49,840 grasps that match tasks like threading, knot tying, or even 326 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,880 instrument passing. Now, if Tesla pairs that demo 327 00:20:54,520 --> 00:21:00,040 with documentation, if they show off the robot, that's great. 328 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,560 But if they show how they did it, they would be even better 329 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,000 because people could see behind the scenes. 330 00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:10,080 And if the demo stays at the level of stage tasks without 331 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:14,280 metrics, clinicians might not even look at this thing. 332 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:19,120 They'll keep treating surgical ambitions of this robot as an 333 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:20,960 open question. Now. 334 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:27,720 Specifically, this will be the difference maker next year, and 335 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,720 it's going to be the difference between hype, the Elon hype as 336 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:36,920 usual, or people actually thinking this robot is going to 337 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:41,800 be a viable healthcare professional in the future. 338 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:44,080 Hey, thank you so much for listening today. 339 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:46,120 I really do appreciate your support. 340 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:48,960 If you could take a second and hit the subscribe or the follow 341 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:51,160 button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening 342 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,800 on right now, I greatly appreciate it. 343 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,480 It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never 344 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,440 miss an episode. And each episode is about 10 345 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,040 minutes or less to get you caught up quickly. 346 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,200 And please, if you want to support the show even more, go 347 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:10,880 to patreon.com/stagezero and please take care of yourselves 348 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:12,800 and each other and I'll see you tomorrow.