--- title: "Wow! Elon Musk Says Tesla’s Person in a Robot Costume Will Become a Real Robot at Some Point in the Future" description: "Tesla CEO Elon Musk is trying to distract from the car company's woes and is instead hyping up a humanoid Robot called Optimus." date: "2022-06-03" modified: "2022-06-03" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-tesla-robot-real-now" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" - "Tesla" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Wow! Elon Musk Says Tesla’s Person in a Robot Costume Will Become a Real Robot at Some Point in the Future ![]() *\Image: Tesla\* ## Look Over There! Tesla CEO Elon Musk has pulled one of the oldest moves out of his bag of tricks: trying to drum up excitement for some random new thing — just hours before news broke of the company [laying off about ten percent of its workforce](). This time, he's yammering on about a so-far-disappointing robot called Optimus, which the company is supposedly working on. "Tesla AI Day pushed to Sept 30, as we may have an Optimus prototype working by then," Musk [tweeted](), adding that "Tesla AI Day #2 will be epic." We should expect that kind of [obvious distraction]() from the billionaire CEO at this point. It's far from the first time Musk has [tried to divert attention]() away from bad news — he certainly has a knack for pushing his own narrative in the media. ## Optimus Mime Besides, we have yet to see anything substantial from Tesla's efforts to build a humanoid robot. So far, all we've seen is a render of a sleek adult human-sized android — plus a random person [dancing in a black and white spandex suit]() on the stage of Tesla's last AI day in August 2021. Even that tiny scrap of information — if you can call it that — may already be obsolete. When asked if the upcoming prototype will look similar to the one displayed at Tesla's grand opening of its Gigafactory in Texas earlier this year, [Musk replied]() with a curt "no." Sure, Tesla might wow us with this robot. But we're not holding our breath. Given the carmaker's ongoing struggles and Musk's "[super bad feeling]()" about the economy, it might be a while until Tesla Optimus robots will actually be able to eliminate "dangerous, repetitive and boring tasks," as [Musk promised]() last year. **READ MORE****:** [Elon Musk says Tesla’s fake robot might be ready by September 30th]() \[*The Verge*\] **More on Tesla:** *[This Might Be the Reason Elon Musk Is Firing a Ton of People at Tesla]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()