The robotic frenzy is at an all-time excessive, and one firm, particularly, that has made bullish statements on a brilliant future is Tesla. The corporate’s chief, Elon Musk, not too long ago claimed that almost “80% of Tesla’s worth” will come from the corporate’s Optimus robotic within the close to future. Here is the odd half: Tesla is but to commercially promote the humanoid robotic within the face of rising skepticism. Extra importantly, the robotic nonetheless hasn’t reached a stage the place it might deal with duties like serving drinks, not to mention advanced manufacturing unit or home chores. The most recent instance of the obvious laggardness? An Optimus robotic falling behind a desk, mimicking what appears to be like like taking off a headset in skinny air.
If there was any query that Optimus makes use of teleop for his or her robots. Right here one clearly has a man take the headset off and it falls over.
Completely hilarious although. pic.twitter.com/4gYVohjY00
— CIX 🦾 (@cixliv) December 8, 2025
The video shared on-line sparked hypothesis that the humanoid robotic was not attending to visitors autonomously on the occasion, however was being tele-operated remotely by a human skilled behind the scenes. In industrial setups, employees are sometimes seen controlling robots whereas donning a VR headset and hand-worn sensors. The truth is, robots at Japanese comfort shops are actually being managed by distant employees within the Philippines. However the state of affairs with Tesla’s Optimus is quite sketchy.
AI, not tele-operated
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2025
Musk, however, has continued to downplay the allegations of remotely-operated Optimus robots. In a video that he shared a number of weeks in the past, an Optimus was seen in a sparring session with a human Kung-Fu practitioner. The actions of the robotic had been fairly easy and much from clumsy. When an X previously Twitter person requested whether or not the robotic was preventing totally autonomously or in any other case, Musk replied that it was “not tele-operated.” Put that in perspective with the motion seen within the leaked video above, and it is fairly exhausting to digest how a robotic that seemingly does flawless Kung Fu can break down and collapse in such a suspiciously awkward method.
Not a great image for Tesla
Humanoid robotic demonstrations have been fairly messy. At a glitzy occasion merely a number of weeks in the past, an bold Russian robotic face-planted embarrassingly. In a number of instances, firms have disclosed that the robotic actions had been remotely managed to a sure extent. In China’s latest robotic marathon, many humanoid robots failed hilariously at one thing as primary as a brisk stroll, or run, whereas a number of did exceedingly effectively. However the state of affairs with Tesla is quite odd, significantly as a result of the corporate hasn’t publicly disclosed whether or not the Optimus robots at its occasions have been totally autonomous or remotely operated.
I requested the bartending Optimus if he was being distant managed. I consider he primarily confirmed it. pic.twitter.com/WlGyuswWpI
— zhen (@zhentan) October 11, 2024
This would possibly not be the primary such flub of its form for Tesla. Over a yr in the past, on the firm’s “We, Robotic” occasion, Tesla reportedly pushed remotely-operated Optimus robots to serve drinks, dance, and work together with visitors. The experiences had been fairly dangerous optics for the corporate, significantly within the wake of tall claims made by Musk on the potential of humanoid robots in all points of life. In China, however, firms haven’t solely pushed robots in factories, but in addition already providing them at dramatically decrease costs and setting Guinness World Information, whereas at it.
Optimus make me a drink, please.
This isn’t wholly AI. A human is distant helping.
Which suggests AI day subsequent yr the place we’ll see how briskly Optimus is studying. pic.twitter.com/CE2bEA2uQD
— Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) October 11, 2024
Citing a notice by Morgan Stanley analysts, Enterprise Insider experiences that the Optimus robots at Tesla’s occasion “relied on tele-ops.” In a nutshell, the rock-paper-scissors video games, or drinks serving chores, had been all remotely operated by a human working behind the scenes. “Total, we didn’t decide up on something new/novel about Optimus that clearly confirmed important progress,” added the scathing notice by the American banking and investments big. A number of consultants and business watchers have additionally claimed — after first-person experiences — that the Optimus models have been remotely operated at Tesla occasions and that it was a poor ethics state of affairs.
