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Reports: Tesla’s prototype Optimus robots were controlled by humans

But the prototypes used "artificial intelligence" to control their walking.

Kyle Orland – | 427
A photo of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot prototype provided by Tesla for the "We Robot" event on October 10, 2024.
A photo of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot prototype provided by Tesla for the "We Robot" event on October 10, 2024. Credit: Tesla
A photo of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot prototype provided by Tesla for the "We Robot" event on October 10, 2024. Credit: Tesla

After Elon Musk provided his "long-term" vision for autonomous, humanoid robots at last week's "We, Robot" event, we expressed some skepticism about the autonomy of the Optimus prototypes sent out for a post-event mingle with the assembled, partying humans. Now, there's been a raft of confirmation that human teleoperators were indeed puppeting the robot prototypes for much of the night.

Bloomberg cites unnamed "people familiar with the matter" in reporting that Tesla "used humans to remotely control some capabilities" of the prototype robots at the event. The report doesn't specify which demonstrated capabilities needed that human assistance, but it points out that the robots "were able to walk without external control using artificial intelligence" (the lack of a similar AI call-out for any other robot actions that night seems telling).

That lines up with reporting from tech blogger Robert Scoble, who posted on social media that he had "talked with an engineer" who confirmed that "when it walked, that is AI running Optimus." For other tasks—like pouring drinks from a tap, playing Rock Paper Scissors, or chatting with nearby attendees—Scoble noted that "a human is remote assisting."

Social media video from the "We, Robot" event shows lines of Optimus robots slowly walking into the party without any apparent assistance. In the footage, though, the parade of Optimus prototypes only walks in a straight line and is given a very wide berth enforced by lines of Tesla minders.

Electrek reports that streamed video footage from the event shows Tesla minders holding some sort of signaling device as they hovered nearby the Optimus units. Electrek also notes that Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jones mentioned the robot's human controllers in an investor note Friday morning.

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"It is our understanding that these robots were not operating entirely autonomously—but relied on tele-ops (human intervention) so it was more a demonstration of degrees of freedom and agility," Jones wrote.

Don’t ask me, I’m just a robot

Perhaps the strongest indication that human assistance was in play at the event was the Optimus units' ability to carry on quick, extemporaneous conversations with human attendees. While AI models have shown rapid advances in naturalistic vocal communications recently, the smoothness and intonation of the Optimus conversations—and their ability to make out questions among a noisy crowd of humans—strongly suggested a human helping behind the scenes.

When Scoble confronted one Optimus robot directly about their autonomy (or lack thereof), the human operator played coy. "I can't disclose just how much [is controlled by AI]," the unit said in a video posted by Scoble. "That's something you'll have to find out later."

Other human controllers were more forthcoming under direct questioning from partygoers, though. In one video from the event a drink-serving Optimus unit admits, "Today, I'm assisted by a human. I'm not yet fully autonomous."

Misdirection

Musk very pointedly avoided discussing the autonomy of the current Optimus prototypes during his "We, Robot" remarks. Instead, he simply pointed out that "the Optimus robots will walk among you... I mean, it’s a wild experience just to have humanoid robots, and they’re there, just in front of you."

But that introduction came after lengthy remarks in which Musk extrapolated from the "rapid progress" in Optimus prototypes to a future where affordable, fully autonomous Optimus robots would be able to do "anything you want." Given that juxtaposition, it's no wonder even some experts were willing to believe the partying prototypes on display were operating largely on their own.

"Fooled me," Deepwater Asset Management Managing Partner Gene Munster admitted on social media after hearing reports of Optimus' teleoperation. That admission came just hours after Munster posted about how the event was "just the start of mega AI use cases." In reality, when it comes to fully autonomous humanoid robots, Optimus seems to still largely be approaching the starting line.

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Kyle Orland Senior Gaming Editor
Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper.
427 Comments
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Dan Homerick
Dan Homerick
So, hardware is looking reasonably polished. Has low level autonomy (self balancing, walking, etc) but the software to "do stuff" isn't demo-ready, especially in a chaotic scene like a party (vs. factory floor ... behind a fence).

That's all fine.

Using teleoperation in the meantime makes for a cool demo, while the software gains features and matures. But JFC, be honest about what you're showing!

There should be no shame about a demo not being final features, about stuff not being ready. But you've got to be honest about what's "real", and what's a stand-in to help people imagine possibilities.
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