“My robots are real!”: Elon Musk publishes a video of his Optimus robots in action to silence critics

© Tesla

Last week, at the ’event & ;#8220;We, Robot”, Tesla presented its Optimus robots with great fanfare. True to his flamboyant style, Elon Musk then praised the merits of these machines, going so far as to say that they would be capable of “do anything you can imagine”. From babysitting to mowing lawns, to running errands to serving drinks, nothing seemed out of reach for these technological marvels, if the billionaire was to be believed.

The reality quickly turned out to be less rosy. Reports from Bloomberg revealed that many of the interactions between the robots and event attendees were actually supervised by Tesla employees operating remotely. This revelation has cast a chill on the initial enthusiasm, sparking a wave of criticism and skepticism about the true state of progress of the Optimus project.

“It's true my robot !”

Faced with this outcry, Elon Musk did not sit idly by. In less than a week, a carefully orchestrated video appeared on his social network X (formerly Twitter). This 90-second clip shows the Optimus robots operating in what appears to be a Tesla warehouse.

The machines are seen performing a variety of tasks: walking autonomously, locating and connecting to a charging station, carrying a tray of batteries, climbing stairs, and even handing out drinks and popcorn to what appear to be Tesla employees. The message is clear: Optimus is much more than a remote-controlled puppet.

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The video places particular emphasis on the use of artificial intelligence in the robot's learning process. It highlights its ability to “explore unknown spaces autonomously, avoiding people and obstacles thanks to neural networks running on its onboard computer”.

i-Robot

This demonstration comes at an opportune time for Tesla, as The company faces a media storm.Gene Munster, managing partner of investment firm Deepwater Asset Management, had notably declared that he had been “misled” by the use of remote operators during the “We, Robot” event.

Faced with this criticism, the company had to adopt a more transparent communication strategy. Milan Kovac, who now oversees the Optimus program, acknowledged on X that the prototypes shown at the event were “to some extent” assisted by humans.

While this communication operation is well orchestrated, it does not prove in any way that Optimus is autonomous. How representative are the performances shown of Optimus's actual and current capabilities?? Has the video been edited to favor the best shots?? And most importantly, how autonomous are these robots?? There's no evidence that Tesla teams haven't already remotely controlled the robots.

• Tesla has released a video showing its Optimus robots in action, in response to criticism over the use of human operators at a recent event.
• The video highlights the progress made in terms of autonomy and capabilities of robots
• This communication operation seeks to reassure skeptics, but there is no proof that robots are not yet assisted

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