In This Story
Tesla (TSLA-2.21%) on Thursday tried to show off its Optimus project again after an event featuring them last week “tricked” some analysts who were unaware the humanoid robots were being assisted remotely.
The company posted a less than 90-second video on X (META+0.60%), which Tesla CEO Elon Musk owns, that shows an Optimus robot walking around a facility and finding its way to a charging dock. The clip includes a demonstration of the robot placing batteries in a tray, carrying the roughly 24-pound tray, climbing stairs, and handing out bottled drinks and popcorn to employees.
The video, which Bloomberg News reports was personally approved by Musk, comes about a week after Tesla held its “We, Robot” event showcasing the company’s progress with autonomous vehicles and robots.
Optimus robots were introduced walking on stage — and dancing in cages —near Musk. They later handed out gift bags and drinks to attendees. Some also spoke with and played games with members of the crowd, made up mostly of analysts and Tesla investors.
“As you can see, we started up with someone in a robot suit, and then we’ve progressed dramatically year after year,” Musk said at the event. “So if you extrapolate this, you’re really going to have something spectacular, something that anyone could own, so you can have your own personal R2-D2 [or] C-3PO,” he added, referring to the Star Wars characters.
Although some of the crowd was impressed, it later emerged that the robots were being remotely controlled by employees who oversaw the interactions. At least one of the robots acknowledged it was getting human assistance, according to a video of the event posted online. Several attendees have said they were informed during the event that the robots were remotely operated, while others were left in the dark.
“Reports that Optimus bots were teleoperator. Fooled me,” Deepwater Asset Management analyst Gene Munster said on X. “Just bizarre that the people walking me through it refused to say that,” tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee said after being informed of the teleoperation.
Tesla has relied on teleoperation — or remote assistance — repeatedly to make Optimus appear more impressive. Such technology, according to Gizmodo, dates as far back as the 1940s.
Milan Kovac, who oversees Tesla’s Optimus program, admitted on Wednesday that the robots “of course were human assisted to some extent,” but said that was done to help Tesla show its “vision of an amazing future.” About 20 robots were active at all times, according to Kovac, with one incident of a robot falling. Kovac on Thursday said Optimus has started learning how to interact with humans.