Tesla released a new video early Thursday showing its much-hyped Optimus robot in action.
Viewers can watch Optimus walk around, hand out food, and climb stairs.
But anyone watching at home should pay close attention to the numbers in the upper-right corner of the video.
Screenshot from a new video of Tesla’s Optimus robot with an annotation showing the 8x speed.Image: Tesla / X
Optimus could be seen dancing, talking with guests, and even playing rock-paper-scissors.
They can be hard to notice when youre trying to watch the robot.
But they serve as a good reminder that Optimus isway behindsome of Teslas most important competitors.
The “autonomous” label disappearing in a new Tesla Optimus video as the robot climbs stairs. GIF: Tesla / Gizmodo
What does Optimus look like in real time?
We slowed down a portion of footage to the actual speed, as you might see inthis video.
And its fine, as a functional bipedal robot goes.
A human-assisted Tesla robot known as Optimus pouring drinks at an event Oct. 10, 2024 at Warner Bros. in Burbank, California.(Screenshot from a video by Robert Scoble)
But Tesla has certainly surpassed the college students of 2015 with this one.
It seems safe to assume Optimus is being controlled by a human during that portion of the video.
Tesla didnt respond to emailed questions on Thursday.
Screenshot: Tesla / X
see, even here you have to speed up video with edits sigh.
NOBODY TRUSTS YOU NOW@elonmusk, one X user complainedabout the video.
But others on X were confused about Scobles wording, just as we were.
I thought people and engineers said it was tele-prompted?
another person asked Scoble.
It was human controlled much of the time, Scoble replied.
They were working on a separate build.
The one for the demo was limited to avoid mistakes.
But now Im wondering if more than I thought was AI, like the pouring of the drink.
But the new video doesnt actually show anyone getting poured a drink either.
We just have to take Teslas word that its AI and autonomous.
The robot bartenders at the Tesla Cybercab event didnt have any visible tethers.
Musk has a long history of trying to make his projects look much more impressive than they actually are.
Back in January, Musk tweeted a video of Optimus folding a shirt.
But the demonstration accidentally revealed there was a person just-off camera who was remotely operating the robot.
The billionaire Tesla CEO isnt the first person to fudge robot demos.
In reality, there was a guy sitting behind a two-way mirror with aremote control.
Some things never really change.
News from the future, delivered to your present.
