Tesla recently held an event called ‘Autonomy Visualized’ in Miami to showcase its “Autopilot technology and Optimus.” However, a video of the demonstration has surfaced showing the Optimus humanoid robot taking a nasty fall. What raised eyebrows was the specific hand movements the robot made on its way down, which suggest it was mimicking a remote operator frantically removing a VR headset.
The incident highlights concerns about Tesla’s reliance on teleoperation to control its robots during demonstrations. This is not new, as Tesla has been using this method for most humanoid robot demonstrations in the past.
Tesla claims that Optimus will be a trillion-dollar product and replace humans in an increasing number of tasks with AI. However, the recent video shows that even simple actions like handing out water bottles are still heavily reliant on teleoperation. This raises questions about the technology’s readiness for widespread adoption.
Source: https://electrek.co/2025/12/07/tesla-optimus-robot-takes-suspicious-tumble-in-new-demo