Tesla's Optimus bot causes a stir at the Robotaxi event

A group of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots walked out alongside the unveiling of Tesla's new Robovan vehicle at the Cybercab event this evening. The robot can also be seen in a video doing everyday human tasks, like bringing in a package from the porch and watering your plants.

“The Optimus will walk among you,” says Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “You can walk right up to them and they serve drinks.”

Musk explains that it can basically “do everything,” citing examples like walking the dog, babysitting the kids, and mowing the lawn. He said it will cost $20,000 to $30,000 “in the long term.”

“I think this will be the biggest product ever,” Musk says.

After the presentation, livestream footage showed people interacting with Optimus robots at tables and in crowds. Still, the robots didn't do much other than wave in the style of AstroBot. There was a table with drinks – but the Optimus bot didn't do more than hold a cup of ice cream. However, a bot could hand out small gift bags at another table and play rock, paper and scissors with guests. And there was an enclosed pavilion with a group of dancing robots in it.

The Tesla bot wasn't a serious product when Musk first unveiled the project in 2021, when a man in a robot suit took the stage to perform a silly dance. But in 2022, the company presented a rough prototype that carefully went onto the stage.

Musk has loftily promised that Optimus will be a “fundamental transformation for civilization.” And he made bigger pitches for investors: that it would bring a potential improvement in economic performance of “two orders of magnitude” and that it could be “manufactured in very large quantities, ultimately millions of units.” Musk said it would cost around “$20,000” and would enable “a future without poverty.”