Buying guide

Tesla Optimus

Q: Is the Tesla Optimus actually available for purchase?

Announced but not yet available. Source: https://www.tesla.com/we-robot.

Q: Does the Tesla Optimus really fold your laundry?

Demonstrated under teleoperator control; not autonomous. Sources: https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/15/elons-tesla-robot-is-sort-of-ok-at-folding-laundry-in-pre-scripted-demo/, https://newatlas.com/robotics/tesla-optimus-folds-shirt/.

Q: Does the Tesla Optimus really tidy your room?

Demonstrated in a demo; no real-world verification. Sources: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-optimus-most-impressive-demonstration-video/, https://interestingengineering.com/culture/can-optimus-make-america-win.

By Tesla · humanoid

Price: $20,000-$30,000· manufacturer target
Availability: Announced, no delivery date.
Maturity: research
Real-world use: Yes, 3 verified deployments

Each clip and image on this page carries a provenance label. About our media provenance →

Tesla Optimus is the canonical example of the verified-vs-claimed gap in commercial humanoid robotics. Tesla has shown Optimus in choreographed demos, internal-facility deployment, and consumer-marketing contexts, but no verified third-party customer deployments and no shipped consumer units exist as of 2026. The price ($20,000 to $30,000) is a manufacturer target contingent on high-volume production that has not yet begun. Optimus units inside Tesla facilities count as manufacturer pilot, not commercial deployment under DEPLOY's maker-facility rule.

Readiness

Tesla Optimus is announced, no delivery date at $20,000-$30,000 (manufacturer target), the 2 capability claims on file are mixed autonomy with teleoperated in demo, 3 verified deployments are on file, and 1 incident is on record.

Availability

announced-no-date

Announced, no delivery date.

see evidence →

Price honesty

manufacturer-target

One price on file: $20,000-$30,000 (manufacturer target).

see evidence →

Capability honesty

teleoperated-assisted

2 reviewed claims, mixed: 1 teleoperated-assisted, 1 demo-only.

see evidence →

Real-world use

research

Maturity: research. 3 verified deployments in the registry.

see evidence →

Safety record

incidents-on-file

1 incident on record across 3 verified deployments.

see evidence →

What it claims to do

Folds laundryteleoperated-assisted· teleoperated in demoevidence ↗
Tidies a roomdemo-only· demonstrated onceevidence ↗

Price

$20,000-$30,000manufacturer target · Tesla We Robot official event page ↗ · announced 2024-10-10

Real-world use

South Korea operated by Tesla2025-06-01
Austin operated by Tesla2025-01-01
Fremont operated by Tesla2024-09-01

Safety record

Tesla 'We, Robot' event: Optimus robots were teleoperated, not autonomous — Tesla did not disclose this to attendees2024-10-10

Privacy

No privacy practices disclosed or on file for Tesla Optimus.

Specs

dof: 28 body DOF plus 11 per hand (Gen 2)
hands: 11-DOF cable-driven hands with fingertip tactile sensing (Gen 2)
notes: Concept announced: Tesla AI Day, August 2021 (concept only, no hardware; represented by a person in a suit).
First prototypes: Tesla AI Day, September 30, 2022: the Bumble-C prototype walked untethered; a sleeker Optimus unit using Tesla components was shown but could not yet walk unaided.
Optimus Gen 2: December 2023: Tesla-designed actuators and sensors, about 30 percent faster walking, roughly 10 kg lighter, 11-DOF hands with fingertip tactile sensing, a 2-DOF actuated neck, and balance/squat demos. This is the primary demonstrated-hardware artifact.
We Robot demo (teleoperation): October 10, 2024: Optimus units appeared to converse and serve drinks; Bloomberg and TechCrunch reported the interactions were human-teleoperated, with only walking AI-driven. Tesla did not disclose the remote assistance beforehand.
Factory work: claimed vs admitted: Tesla claimed internal factory testing (2024 to 2025). On the Q4 2025 earnings call (January 2026), Elon Musk acknowledged Optimus is not in material use in Tesla factories and remains in the research-and-development phase.
V3 / production design: The production-design V3 reveal slipped repeatedly (to mid-2026 as of the April 2026 call); Musk declined a 2026 volume target. An earlier claim of about 5,000 units in 2025 was reportedly missed (a few hundred built).
External commercial sale: No verified external commercial sale as of mid-2026. Tesla's stated goal is for Optimus to be useful outside Tesla around 2027.
Price (claimed): Musk projects roughly $20,000 to $30,000 at scale (sub-$20,000 only above 1 million units per year). A projection, not a realized price.
Supply constraint: On the Q1 2025 call, Musk attributed Optimus production impact to China's rare-earth magnet export restrictions.
Leadership: Optimus program VP Milan Kovac departed June 2025; Ashok Elluswamy (Autopilot/AI) took over leadership.
AI stack: Shares perception and compute approach with Tesla Full Self-Driving (registry brain: tesla-fsd-bot).
height: approx 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
weight: approx 57 to 73 kg depending on generation; Gen 2 reduced about 10 kg vs Gen 1
battery: 2.3 kWh, 52 V (Gen 1 published spec)
compute: Tesla FSD computer; neural networks trained on Tesla's AI infrastructure; perception/compute approach shared with Tesla Full Self-Driving
actuators: 6 Tesla-designed actuator types (3 rotary harmonic-drive, 3 linear roller-screw)
ai_system: Tesla FSD computer; neural networks trained on Tesla's AI infrastructure; perception/compute approach shared with Tesla Full Self-Driving
height_cm: 173
weight_kg: 57 to 73
formFactor: humanoid (general-purpose bipedal)
payload_kg: 20
battery_kwh: 2.3
degreesOfFreedom: approx 28 body DOF plus 11 per hand (Gen 2); a 22-DOF hand is claimed for the V3 production design

What's under the hood

Runs on Tesla FSD-Botfoundation-model
Runs on Grok (xAI)foundation-model

Frequently asked questions

Is the Tesla Optimus actually available for purchase?

Announced but not yet available.Source: Tesla — Optimus

What does the Tesla Optimus cost?

Tesla Optimus costs $20,000-$30,000 one-time (manufacturer target).Source: Tesla We Robot official event page

Does the Tesla Optimus really fold your laundry?

Demonstrated under teleoperator control; not autonomous.Sources: TechCrunch: Optimus folds laundry in a pre-scripted demo, New Atlas: Musk confirms the Optimus shirt-fold was teleoperated, not autonomous

Does the Tesla Optimus really tidy your room?

Demonstrated in a demo; no real-world verification.Sources: Teslarati: Tesla posts Optimus demo (sweeping, vacuuming, trash), claimed single-neural-net autonomy (May 21, 2025), Interesting Engineering: Optimus demos operate only in structured, lightly staged settings; no robust unstructured autonomy

Where is the Tesla Optimus being used?

Tesla Optimus is in use at: South Korea operated by Tesla (2025-06-01), Austin operated by Tesla (2025-01-01), and Fremont operated by Tesla (2024-09-01).Source: Fear of humanoid robots spurs human workers to strike at Hyundai auto factory

What's the Tesla Optimus running on?

Tesla Optimus runs a multi-brain stack: Tesla FSD-Bot (foundation-model, pilot maturity) and Grok (xAI) (foundation-model, pilot maturity).

Is the Tesla Optimus safe?

Incidents on record: 1 (1 other). See Tesla 'We, Robot' event: Optimus robots were teleoperated, not autonomous — Tesla did not disclose this to attendees.Source: Tesla 'We, Robot' event: Optimus robots were teleoperated, not autonomous — Tesla did not disclose this to attendees

How does the Tesla Optimus handle privacy?

No privacy practices disclosed or on file for Tesla Optimus.

Who makes the Tesla Optimus?

Tesla Optimus is made by Tesla, based in Austin, Texas, USA.Source: Tesla — Optimus

Gallery

Walking & balance

Rear view of a production-design Tesla Optimus robot climbing a metal staircase with red handrails on a factory floor, a yellow 'Watch Your Step!' sign at the top and a cyan point-cloud reconstruction of the stairs overlaid at right, captioned 'Optimus is also now venturing on non-flat terrain!'. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

A Tesla Optimus (Gen 2) robot walking mid-stride across a Tesla service garage with two stainless Cybertrucks on red vehicle lifts behind, and the on-screen caption '30% walk speed boost'. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

A production-design Tesla Optimus robot walking past a battery-cell workstation on a glass-walled factory floor where a human worker in a red hard hat is working, with an 'AUTONOMOUS 2X' label and a small navigation point-cloud inset in the corner. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

A split visualization from a Tesla Optimus video: on the left a black-and-white 3D point-cloud reconstruction of a factory interior, on the right four stacked inset clips showing a production-design Optimus walking through factory aisles, with the caption 'which they can later tap into for navigation'. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

A production-design Tesla Optimus robot carrying a red plastic bin of small parts in both hands as it walks through a factory corridor lined with manufacturing equipment, with an 'AUTONOMOUS 2X' label in the corner. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Two production-design Tesla Optimus robots with illuminated face rings walking down a lit outdoor path at night at the We, Robot event, a crowd of attendees on both sides and a Tesla staffer with a radio walking alongside. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Close-up of a Tesla Optimus robot's lower legs and black articulated feet mid-step on a polished workshop floor, with the on-screen caption 'Foot force/torque sensing / Articulated toe sections' and tool chests behind. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Manipulation

A Tesla Optimus robot with exposed internals bending forward over a white studio table, its open five-finger hand reaching toward green toy blocks on a yellow tray, with a blue tray of blue blocks in the foreground, captioned 'it can sort these blocks by color fully autonomously'. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

A development Tesla Optimus robot with exposed silver actuators standing at a white workbench that holds two metal bins and several machined metal parts, one hand extended toward the parts, with a pegboard tool wall and a fiddle-leaf plant behind and an on-screen caption about performing increasingly complex tasks. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

A Tesla Optimus robot with exposed silver internals standing behind a white studio table, its open right hand hovering over a cluster of green toy blocks between a blue tray of blue blocks and an empty yellow tray, with a person's hand resting on the near edge of the table and a Cybertruck poster behind. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Production-design Tesla Optimus beside a red tray of cylindrical battery cells on a factory line, shown alongside an 'AUTONOMOUS 2X' close view of the same tray being handled.

A Tesla Optimus robot holding an egg between the fingertips of one hand over a small egg cooker, with a right/left fingertip tactile-sensor heatmap overlay and a Cybertruck backdrop. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Side view of a Tesla Optimus robot with exposed silver internals reaching toward blue and green toy blocks laid out with sorting trays on a white table in a studio. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

A white-and-black humanoid robot holding a small glass in each hand at an outdoor evening social gathering, extending one toward a seated person at a low table with string lights and people nearby. — Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Factory & industrial

Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Production-design Tesla Optimus beside a red tray of cylindrical battery cells on a factory line, shown alongside an 'AUTONOMOUS 2X' close view of the same tray being handled.