Tesla Optimus

Tesla Optimus is a general-purpose humanoid robot designed to handle repetitive, dangerous, or physically demanding tasks. Standing 173 cm tall and weighing roughly 57 kg (Gen 2), it is built around the same AI and computer vision technology that powers Tesla's Full Self-Driving vehicle software, giving it a distinctive approach compared to competitors that build their AI stacks from scratch.

First announced at Tesla AI Day in August 2021, Optimus has progressed through multiple generations. Gen 3 hands have 22 degrees of freedom and 50 actuators per hand — a 4.5x increase over Gen 2 — enabling tasks from delicate egg-handling to precision industrial assembly. Mass production of Gen 3 began at Tesla's Fremont factory in January 2026. Tesla's strategy centres on deploying its manufacturing scale and neural-network training infrastructure (including the Dojo supercomputer, restarted in early 2026) to produce humanoid robots at a price point far below industry alternatives.

As of mid-2026, Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is in active factory deployment. Units are performing supervised tasks inside Tesla's own production facilities, collecting training data and taking on increasingly complex jobs. Elon Musk acknowledged in the Q4 2025 earnings call that no robots were yet doing commercially productive work, but stated that meaningful factory deployment would follow within 2026. Gen 3 integrates Grok, xAI's large language model, for natural interaction and task reasoning. External sales are planned but no firm date has been given; the current focus is proving the technology internally at scale before opening up to third-party customers.