Elon Musk's Tesla Optimus Robot Takes Suspicious Tumble During Demo

A new video from a Tesla demonstration in Miami this weekend shows the company’s Optimus humanoid robot taking a concerning fall, with hand movements strongly suggesting it was being teleoperated by a remote human operator.

Electrek reports that Tesla’s highly touted Optimus humanoid robot suffered an embarrassing setback during a public demonstration at the company’s “Autonomy Visualized” event in Miami this weekend. In a video posted to social media, the robot can be seen handing out water bottles to attendees before suddenly losing its balance and tumbling backward.

But it is not just the fall itself raising eyebrows — the specific hand motions Optimus made on its way down are a telltale sign to robotics experts. Just before hitting the ground, both of the robot’s hands shot up to its “face” area in a grasping motion, as if frantically trying to remove an object from its head. The problem is, the Optimus robot wasn’t wearing anything on its head.

To those familiar with teleoperation setups and virtual reality, the hand movement was instantly recognizable as a human operator likely removing their VR headset in a panic as the robot began to fall. This strongly suggests that, despite Tesla’s claims of increasing autonomy, Optimus is still heavily reliant on remote human control for many tasks.

The revelation comes as a blow to CEO Elon Musk’s bold predictions about the robot’s capabilities and potential impact. Musk has told shareholders Optimus will be the biggest product in history, with millions working in factories in the near future. He also recently fought back against accusations of teleoperation, insisting a video of Optimus doing kung-fu with actor Jared Leto was “AI, not tele-operated.”

However, if Optimus still requires 1:1 human control for relatively simple tasks like handing out water bottles, it calls into question how close the technology really is to being a viable commercial product capable of autonomously performing useful work. Musk’s claims of Optimus soon replacing human workers across industries feel increasingly far-fetched if remote operators are still required behind the scenes.

Breitbart News has previously reported on Musk’s underwhelming demos of Optimus. This is concerning for the billionaire’s supporters, as Optimus robots are a key technology in Musk’s utopian vision of the future. For example, Breitbart News reported on November that Musk wants Optimus robots to follow criminals around to prevent them from committing crimes:

“You don’t have to put people in prisons and stuff,” Musk said. “If somebody’s committed crime, you now get a free Optimus and it’s just gonna follow you around and stop you from doing crime. But other than that you get to do anything. It’s just gonna stop you from committing crime, that’s really it.”

The proposal immediately generated controversy and raised numerous ethical and practical questions. Musk provided few details on how exactly the robots, which are still in early development, would be able to identify and prevent criminal acts. There are also significant concerns around privacy, surveillance, and the societal implications of having for-profit robots integrated into the criminal justice system.