Siddhartha Srinivasa, Director of Robotics & AI at Amazon, states, “My take on the Tesla Bot: You’re not as good as you think you are. You’re also not as bad as they think you are.”
The first of Elon Musk’s ‘Robot Army’, Tesla Optimus, has been going viral recently for all the wrong reasons. Just last month, Tesla Optimus was assigned to serve drinks to the audience at the ‘Autonomy Visualized” event in a Miami store. The video shows Optimus’s hands knocking over water bottles from a table during the service. This moment leads to more awkwardness when it decides to completely malfunction and tip itself over in front of everyone. This shows that there are still things to work on when it comes to making robots build the ‘future.’
Tesla Optimus
byu/Decent_Cheesecake643 inteslamotors
Tesla’s humanoid robot is obviously a revolution, but Elon Musk claiming, “Three years. And by the way, that’s three years at scale. There will probably be more Optimus robots that are great surgeons than there are all surgeons on Earth,” is a bit of an overstretch.
Let’s not jump to a quick conclusion and learn in-depth about Optimus, what it can do, its features, and whether the Tesla robot for the home has any future.
Who or What is Tesla’s Humanoid Robot Optimus?
Named after a much-loved Transformer character, Optimus Prime, Tesla’s humanoid robot was first launched at the company’s AI Day event in August 2021. The prototype of Optimus was shown at Tesla’s Giga Texas manufacturing unit in April 2022. The same year, in September, the robot’s semi-functional prototypes were displayed at Tesla’s second AI Day event. AI researcher Filip Piekniewski, robotics expert Cynthia Yeung, and executive director of Mass Robotics Tom Ryden called the Optimus project a ‘complete and utter scam.” They also criticized the humanoid form.
The Gen 2 was first seen on a video released by Elon Musk on his official X’s page in 2023. Optimus had a comparatively slicker figure with enhanced movements and hand gestures. Tesla Optimus Gen 2 was walking and poaching eggs in Musk’s launch video. In 2024, another video was released showing the robot performing various tasks at Tesla’s factory.
The Generation 3 version of Optimus was first presented at October 2024’s “We, Robot” event. Though the demonstrations were mostly interactive and ‘fun’ as stated by attendees, the critics did not stay quiet about the robots using teleoperation for crowd interaction. They also pointed fingers at the company and Musk for not being 100% transparent about this.
Elon Musk says that it is not far when we see a Tesla robot for the home walking among people, performing various tasks, from babysitting, dog walking, to cooking, and cleaning. Though that day is still not upon us yet, the Optimus robot price will be somewhere between $20,000 to $30,000.
Related: Artificial Intelligence: Power In Hands & Risk In Subtlety
Tesla Bot Features & Specs
As per Musk’s claims, Optimus is developed using an advanced driver-assistance system used in Tesla’s bestselling cars. It is designed as a general-purpose robot whose height is about 5 feet and 8 inches, weighing around 125 pounds. It’s given a humanoid form with hands, arms, and legs to accomplish “dangerous, repetitive, and boring” tasks in the physical world. Optimus also comes fitted with sensors to navigate the real-world environment.
Optimus Specifications
| Optimus Height | 5’8” |
| Weight | 125 pounds or 57 kg |
| Top Walking Speed | Up to 5 mph |
| Can Carry Weight Up To | 20 pounds or 9 kg |
| Deadlift Weight Up To | 150 pounds or 68 kg |
| AI Backbone | Full Self-Driving (FSD) system |
| Degrees of Freedom (DoF) in Hands | Both Gen 1 & Gen 2 versions had 11 DoFGen 3 has 22 DoF in the hands and 3 DoF in the forearm and wrist |
Tesla Bot Features
As per Tesla, the bot can adapt behavior using artificial intelligence, navigate different environments, and identify objects. Though it is not fully released as of now. Some of its standout features include,
- Design: It is optimized for silent, energy-efficient motion and comes with a lightweight frame with actuators.
- Sensors: Optimus has force sensors, neural net planning, and in-built cameras.
- Safety: Designed to be safe around humans with smooth motion profiles and controlled force output.
- Battery Life: It is developed to remain active for 1 complete day on one-time charge for lightweight tasks.
What Can a Tesla Robot Do?
Tesla Optimus robot uses include a multitude of tasks. At the launch event, Elon mentioned that Optimus can be used in areas that are repetitive, boring, or unsafe for human beings, like factories, in manufacturing industries, warehouses, etc. The vision for Optimus is to be the human assistant in a general-purpose context, without the need for any reconfiguration.
Optimus in home settings,
- Grocery shopping and carrying
- Laundry folding
- Cooking simple meals
- Mopping or vacuuming floors
- Mobility assistance for the specially-abled people and the elderly.
Optimus in industrial settings,
- Helping with component placement for assembly
- Loading and moving parts in production
- Using its in-built vision to check quality
- Shelf-stocking or managing simple logistics in warehouses.
As already briefly mentioned, in the Moonshot podcast (hosted by Peter Diamandis, US engineer and physician), Musk stated that Tesla Optimus is soon to be the future of healthcare. Pointing at the current shortage of healthcare professionals, he added, “It takes a super long time to learn how to be a good doctor, and even then, the knowledge is constantly evolving. Doctors have limited time; they make mistakes.” Eventually, Tesla’s humanoid robots can outperform surgeons and handle complicated procedures better than humans.
Contemplating Musk’s statement, a bioethicist from New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, Arthur Caplan, said that the idea of robots outperforming good surgeons in years is just “not credible.”
On Tesla Optimus’s official X page, you can see a video in which the bot is performing various tasks at the Tesla factory titled, “Trying to be useful lately!”
Trying to be useful lately! pic.twitter.com/TlPF9YB61W
— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) May 5, 2024
Musk also mentioned humanoid robots’ “exponential growth” can be measured by development in three major areas, which include AI chip performance, AI software capability, and mechanical precision.
As per the CEO of Tesla, Optimus will be mass-produced sometime in 2026, making it another feather in the company’s hat alongside artificial intelligence and electric cars.
Related: Artificial Intelligence Vs Human Intelligence: Who’s the Best?
Tesla Robot Vs Other Humanoid Robots
Elon Musk’s company is not the only one in this robot-making competition. Most robotics development is seen in Asia, with 70% of new robots deployed in Asian countries, 17% in Europe, and 10% in the Americas. Some of the industry leaders include Nvidia, Boston Dynamics, ABB Robotics, Figure AI, and many others. If you want to read about these companies in detail, check out my Top Robotics Companies That Will Lead the Market in 2026 blog.
| Robot | Company | Standout Features |
|---|---|---|
| Figure 03 | Figure AI | Designed for general applications across people’s homes for everyday use.The latest version is Figure 03, successor of Figure 02.Driven by Helix AI, developed to navigate changing home environments. |
| Digit | Agility Robotics | World’s first commercially used humanoid robot.Designed for manufacturing and logistics applications.Can perform 3 shifts/ day with short charging breaks in between each. |
| Atlas | Boston Dynamics | Humanoid robot designed for enterprise use cases.Can find a charging station autonomously.Supports barcode scanning among other workflow integrations. |
Challenges of Tesla Optimus Gen 3
Since its inception, Optimus, though backed by resource powerhouse Tesla, has been facing roadblocks and several challenges. Some of them are:
Mobility and balance still remain an issue in bipedal robots like Optimus. It takes years of fine-tuning to make them able to walk smoothly on two legs without falling or slipping on rough surfaces.
The battery life is also another hurdle. As Tesla promises a full day of runtime, many functions running in the background can drain the battery much faster. These functions can include processing and safety checks, besides constant movement.
Even though Optimus has articulated hands, its motor control is still not up to the mark. Fragile activities that involve learning gestures, sensors, and grip are a big challenge. It might fail in performing activities like folding clothes, operating gadgets, and in general interaction with ever-changing environments.
Tesla Optimus learning Kung Fu pic.twitter.com/ziEuiiKWn7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2025
Another important aspect is safety concerns. Being almost 15 pounds in weight, Optimus can’t make mistakes, especially around kids and elderly people. Until Tesla introduces features like real-time detection of collision, emergency overrides, and limited force output, people can’t trust it in their homes.
What’s To Come For Tesla’s Humanoid Robot?
Though I am particularly not a fan of Tesla Optimus robot uses, especially in a home environment, I believe all big revolution faces heavy criticism in their initial days. iRobot’s co-founder (of Roomba fame), Rodney Brooks, states that the overall idea of Optimus as the future of human assistants is “pure fantasy thinking.”
Elon Musk has also stated that Optimus is going to be commercially produced in 2026 and can bring in revolutionary shifts across industries like manufacturing, logistics, and even healthcare. His statements have gone viral on various social media channels, where users have argued about the credibility of his statements. Some blatantly questioned patient safety and how positive the changes would be in the healthcare department with the introduction of humanoid robots. Many are also sure that Musk’s expectations for Optimus are way ahead of what the latest technologies are even capable of!
And concerning the Tesla robot for the home, this very idea is far-fetched even for the greatest technological minds at work today, as ‘almost’ appropriately said by AI researcher Filip Piekniewski, “next level cringe-worthy.”
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