Elon Musk shares ridiculous fact about Optimus’ hand demos - Teslarati
Tesla is designing Optimus to be a potential replacement for humans in some of the world’s most delicate tasks, such as surgery. It is then extremely important for Optimus’ hand to be very dexterous and refined in its movements.
Key takeaways
Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus remains in development, with the company showcasing increasingly sophisticated hand prototypes but keeping the full V3 iteration under wraps. At the recent shareholder and all‑hands meetings, Elon Musk reiterated that Optimus is intended to out‑perform human labor by a factor of five, operate 24/7 and eventually enable a universal basic income, even claiming the robot could “eliminate poverty.” He also emphasized that the robot’s dexterous hand is a critical hurdle that Tesla believes only it can solve at scale. Tesla’s AI chief warned that 2026 will be the “hardest year” for staff as the firm pushes aggressive production targets, aiming to ramp up to an annualized output of one million Optimus units alongside its Robotaxi rollout. While the robot has performed public demos—handing out candy on Halloween and doing a brief Kung Fu routine with actor Jared Leto—it is not yet ready for
Tesla is designing Optimus to be a potential replacement for humans in some of the world’s most delicate tasks, such as surgery. It is then extremely important for Optimus’ hand to be very dexterous and refined in its movements. This is something that even companies that are also producing humanoid robots have yet to accomplish fully. Musk highlighted this during the Annual Shareholder Meeting, when he discussed how Tesla is really the only company that can scale humanoid robots properly. Needless to say, it appears that Optimus’ V3 iteration is still very much under wraps.
Optimus’s hand
Even in Tesla’s We, Robot event last year, the company showcased a robotic hand that seemed capable of performing complex tasks. A similar hand was showcased at the recent investor event. It was then no surprise that some attendees and EV community members assumed that the robotic component, which was very dexterous, was a preview of Optimus V3’s hand. Musk’s overall idea for Optimus is to change the way people are able to exist, from those law-abiding citizens to others who have their run-ins with the law. Instead, the Tesla CEO believes there could be a different way to handle everything, including punishment.
It was not the only thing that Musk indicated could be changed significantly by the presence of humanoid robots, as he also said a universal basic income could be established with the help of products like Optimus.
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