Tesla’s Optimus robot crashes to the floor during Miami event, video goes viral | WATCH

nikola tesla CEO Elon Musk routinely keeps harping almost the antics of his Optimus humanoid robot and even out believes that the widespread deployment of the technology would top to “sustainable copiousness” and a future where physical labour is optional, essentially eliminating poverty.

However, a new video of the Optimus robot is going viral on social media, suggesting that this reality may still be far away, if attainable at all. In the video, which was shot at a Tesla store in Miami during a special gathering called “Autonomy Visualized”, Optimus appears to lose its balance and fall flat on its head.

In the viral clip, Optimus tries to grab one of the bottles placed in front of it but fails to get a proper grip, knocking a few others off the table instead. The robot then loses its balance and drops straight to the floor.

The moment where Optimus raises its hands towards its head just before losing control is being widely interpreted as evidence that the robot was being teleoperated by a Tesla staffer, possibly using a VR headset. The final movement before the fall has led many netizens to speculate that the human controller removed their headset abruptly, causing the robot to collapse.

If true, this would contradict Musk’s past assertions that Optimus is powered by real-world AI that mimics human behaviour.

Musk has previously shared videos of Optimus performing tasks such as playing kung fu with a human or running, showcasing the robot as capable of operating autonomously while using AI for balance, navigation, and perception.

As recently as last month, Musk said, “My prediction is that work will be optional. It’ll be like playing sports or a video game or something like that. If you want to work, [it’s] the same way you can go to the store and just buy some vegetables, or you can grow vegetables in your backyard. It’s much harder to grow vegetables in your backyard, and some people still do it because they like growing vegetables.”

What are netizens saying about Optimus’ fall?

“If there was any question that Optimus uses teleop for their robots, here one clearly has a guy take the headset off and it falls over. Absolutely hilarious though,” wrote one user on X.

“Elon is too afraid to let Optimus hand out water bottles, so he uses a teleoperator to deceive people into believing that Optimus is capable of this very simple task. It isn’t. Tesla once again failed to disclose this critical information, misleading people about its progress on autonomy,” added another user.

“I love this video. Everything about it is just so perfect. The water explosion, the comedic timing of the cut off, Optimus putting his hands up in disbelief as the operator removes the headset,” yet another user noted.

---

---