A robot with human hands
Optimus is Tesla’s humanoid robot: the size of a person, built to work in places designed for people. It sees with the same neural networks as Tesla’s cars; its big challenge is moving with precision.
How a robot works out its movements
A robot doesn’t “know” how to reach out. Many times a second it solves a math problem: what angle to set at each joint so the hand lands right on the target. It is called inverse kinematics.
Move the pointer to guide the hand and hold it down to close it. More joints give more ways to get there (more degrees of freedom), but the math gets harder.
The size of a person, to use human tools and spaces. Announced in 2021, at about 57 kg. ↗
Motors in the body joints of the first prototype (2022), of only six types. ↗
Degrees of freedom in 2023, and 22 in the 2024 hands. The human hand has at least 20 in the fingers alone. ↗ ↗
Gen 2 (2023) added tactile sensors in the fingers to grip without breaking things. ↗
It reuses the vision Tesla developed for its cars. ↗
Repetitive, boring or dangerous tasks. ↗
Useful robots
The bet: that the same brain that learns to drive can power a robot able to do repetitive or dangerous work. Here is where each piece stands:
- Optimus working in factoriesTesting
- Learning tasks by watching videos of peopleIn development
- A Fremont factory for a million robots a yearIn development
- A robot in every homeConcept
Approximate status as of October 2026; things may have moved on. In April 2026 Tesla began replacing the Model S and X lines in Fremont with the first Optimus line; ↗ since May 2025 the robot has learned some of its tasks from first-person videos of people. ↗ The third generation had not been unveiled yet (September 2026). ↗