"Elon Musk and Tesla are touting the company's Optimus robot as its next revolutionary moneymaker, but after several incidents, some are questioning how autonomous it actually is. During an event titled "autonomy visualized" at a Tesla location in Miami over the weekend, one of the humanoid robots handing out water bottles fell backwards after making upward motions toward its head with both hands, according to a video posted to Reddit."
"It made the movement after accidentally knocking some of the water bottles it was handing out off a desk, and stood out because of its similarity to a human reaction. While it's unknown what actually occurred during the incident, the robot's movement led some online to speculate the robot may have been taking off a VR headset. Tesla did not immediately respond to Fortune 's request for comment."
"Yet, it turns out-although the company did not advertise it- some of those bots were apparently being controlled remotely by humans. At least one Optimus robot admitted it, saying: "Today, I'm assisted by a human, I'm not yet fully autonomous," although the LA Timesreported, at the time, using humans to operate the bots may have been due to a late request by Musk to include the robots in the Robotaxi event."
Elon Musk and Tesla promote Optimus as a future revenue driver. At a Miami "autonomy visualized" event, an Optimus robot fell backwards after making upward motions toward its head while handing out water bottles. The movement followed the robot accidentally knocking bottles off a desk and prompted speculation that it mimicked removing a VR headset. Tesla has used human-controlled Optimus units at past events, with attendees interacting, playing games, serving drinks, and posing for photos. At least one Optimus unit acknowledged human assistance and the company trained robots using motion-capture suits and VR headsets.
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