Tesla Optimus robot falls over, goes viral

A bizarre video of one of Tesla’s Optimus robots appearing to malfunction and fall over while serving drinks at an event is going viral online.

The incident happened at an “Autonomy Visualized” event at its Miami store. As Electrek writes, the Tesla event was promoted as a way to showcase the company’s “Autopilot technology and Optimus.” 

The fall is a potential embarrassment for Tesla chief Elon Musk, who has highlighted recent demos of Optimus — including one in which the robot appears to be performing Kung Fu.

“AI, not tele-operated,” Musk claimed in a reply to a video showcasing the robots skills.

Musk was referring to the fact that previous showcases of Optimus actually involved the robot being operated remotely by a human. Still, Optimus did not seem to be in control of itself at the “Autonomy Visualized” event.

The video was first posted on Reddit and is now going viral across social media, including on Musk’s own X platform. It shows an Optimus robot serving water bottles at the event.

The robot’s hands knock into the table, causing water bottles to fall. Then, suddenly, the robot seems to completely malfunction and falls back.

The weirdest part of the video, though, may be the motion the robots arms and hands make while it begins to tip backwards.

The Optimus robot lifts its arms upwards as its hands make a motion as if removing something — rather like someone removing a VR headset from their head. 

As Electrek points out, VR headsets are exactly what Tesla teleoperators use to control the robots.

A headset fail wouldn’t be the first setback for Tesla’s Optimus robots, which Musk has referred to as his “robot army.” But when it comes to assessing just how effective this army would be in practice, this video is an eye-opener.

So, while Musk touts autonomous robots, it appears Optimus may still be remotely operated — at least, at public events that aim to promote their autonomy.