Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots still need plenty of help from a human teleoperator who’s hidden from view.
During a flashy event on a Hollywood movie studio lot in October 2024, for instance, an army of bipedal robots could be seen pouring drinks and conversing with eventgoers — a stunt that turned out to heavily rely on a team of off-camera pilots with remote controls.
Now, a new video has surfaced on social media that perfectly — and comedically — illustrates how far Tesla still is from fully automating its humanoid robot’s movements, despite trying its best to sell the illusion.
The footage, recorded at Tesla’s “Autopilot technology and Optimus” event at its Miami store this weekend, shows a robot standing behind a table littered with plastic water bottles when it suddenly raises its hands to its temples, losing its balance and stumbling backwards, and ultimately falling flat on its back.
The mysterious behavior led many to conclude that it was copying its teleoperator, who was caught removing their virtual reality headset while logging off, abruptly shattering the illusion of autonomy.
“If there was any question that Optimus uses teleop for their robots,” robotics company CEO Cix Liv tweeted. “Here, one clearly has a guy take the headset off, and it falls over.”
“Absolutely hilarious though,” he added.
“Pay no attention to the low-paid worker virtually operating your Tesla hydration bot,” Kotaku‘s Ethan Gach wrote, referencing the titular “Wizard of Oz,” who’s unmasked to be a humble balloonist from Kansas, after using magic tricks to make himself appear “great and powerful.”
The video highlights a still-enormous gap between humanoid robot hardware and the required software to allow it to roam the world without being steered by a human.
And it’s not just Tesla. Robotics company 1X was recently criticized for showing off its NEO humanoid robot, which costs an eye-watering $20,000, that will require customers to sign off on a hired teleoperator navigating their homes through the robot.
For Tesla, the stakes are considerable. CEO Elon Musk has previously claimed that Tesla’s future relies on the success of its AI offerings and Optimus, claiming the robot could generate over $10 trillion in revenue in the long term and raise the company’s market cap from just over $1 trillion to $25 trillion.
But as the latest video goes to show, reality continues to lag far behind the billionaire’s characteristically ambitious predictions. If it can’t hand bottles of water to eventgoers on its own, what can it actually do?
As Electrek points out, Musk promised on Tesla’s earnings call in October that Optimus was “doing kung fu” at the premiere of “Tron: Ares” with “nobody” controlling it.
But if we were to hazard a guess, a human martial artist could still easily best the kicking robot — by simply tipping it over.
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