Optimus: a factory humanoid that showed up first in a diner and a mall

Tesla’s humanoid began as someone in a robot suit

At AI Day in August 2021 Tesla announced a humanoid called the Tesla Bot. It was to be 5 ft 8 in tall and weigh 125 lb, with a screen for a face, and a prototype was promised for 2022. At a 2024 event Musk said, “we started up with someone in a robot suit.” The first prototype, shown in September 2022, walked without cables. Musk said the price would probably be under $20,000 and that Tesla would eventually make millions. In December 2023 a video showed Gen 2, lighter and with touch sensors in its hands.

Teleoperation questions and a factory debut that kept slipping

At the We, Robot event in October 2024 Optimus robots mixed drinks and talked to guests. Several outlets then reported that humans had been operating them remotely, and one robot bartender said it was being assisted by a human. In June 2024 Tesla had said one to two thousand robots would be working in its factories by 2025. In January 2026 Musk said, “It’s not in usage in our factories in a material way,” adding that it was still in the R&D phase. In April 2026 Tesla said it would convert its Fremont Model S and X line to make Optimus. On the October earnings call it said early production had begun and that outside deliveries would likely come around the end of 2027.

A queue for a robot handing out popcorn

Before any sale, the public met Optimus in spaces Tesla ran. At the Tesla Diner, which opened in Hollywood in July 2025, Optimus handed popcorn to customers. In December a one-day event at the Mall of Berlin had it give out popcorn and pose for photos. A New York store displayed a static Optimus. Steve Jurvetson, who photographed the We, Robot event, wrote: “Clearly teleoperated, but the fluidity of motion was astounding, as a demo of the physical system, without cables or tethers.”

A robot that stood in shops before it worked in factories

Optimus was announced as a factory robot, yet the Optimus people actually saw was at promotional events in a diner and a mall. A human-shaped robot drew crowds before it did any work. Like NEO, whose pre-order numbers came before any confirmed home delivery, Optimus is a record of a wide gap between promise and practice.

When what a robot can do differs from what it is shown doing, how should design make that gap visible?

What we haven’t confirmed

• Whether the Optimus robots at the Tesla Diner and the Mall of Berlin moved on their own or were teleoperated
• Actual production in 2026 (The Information’s “several hundred a week” is confirmed only through Electrek’s report)
• When Optimus V3 will be shown and what it will cost
• The exact wording of the price remark at the 2024 event (sources differ)