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Tesla Bot walks slowly but surely forward in new video

Updated on: 17 May 2023

Justinas Vainilavičius
Senior Journalist

tesla_bot_0517 — Screenshot from YouTube/Tesla

Tesla Bot, also known as Optimus, appears to be finding its feet in a new video showing the humanoid robot manipulating objects and taking small but steady steps forward.

It’s not quite I, Robot yet – thankfully – but Optimus is taking baby steps towards greater autonomy. In the latest video demonstration played by Tesla boss Elon Musk during this week’s shareholder event, the robot is seen taking steady steps forward.

Another segment shows the entire group of Tesla robots marching in unison – again, at a pace that will not win any sprinting competitions but a far cry from the machine’s first stumbling steps in public just seven months ago.

During a demonstration of the prototype in October, Musk said that Tesla would be able to produce “millions” of humanoid robots in the coming years and sell them for under $20,000 or less than a third of the price of its best-selling Model Y electric car, a claim that raised some eyebrows.

Since then, however, Optimus seems to have moved beyond its wave-only capabilities and has been shown in the video recognizing and picking up objects. In one episode, its robotic hand is seen tapping the egg without cracking its shell, an easy and intuitive task for humans, but not robots.

Other increasingly complex tasks demonstrated in the video include transferring objects from one container to another, with motor torque control facilitating smoother and more stable movements.

The video also highlights improvements such as environment discovery and memorization for better interaction with surroundings and AI training from human demonstrations, bringing Tesla’s ambition to mass-produce humanoid robots closer to reality.