Video of Tesla Optimus robot falling down is going viral

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

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

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

“AI, not remote exploitation”, Musk claimed in a response to a video showcasing robot skills.

Musk was referring to the fact that previous presentations of Optimus actually involved the robot being piloted remotely by a human. However, Optimus didn’t seem to be in control of himself during the “Autonomy Visualized” event.

The video was first published on Reddit and is now going viral on social media, including Musk himself. Platform. It shows an Optimus robot serving water bottles at the event.

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

Perhaps the strangest part of the video, however, is the movement the robot’s arms and hands make as it begins to tip backwards.

The Optimus robot raises its arms upwards while its hands make a movement as if it is removing something – much like someone removing a VR headset from its head.

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

A headset failure wouldn’t be the first setback for Tesla’s Optimus robots, which Musk has called his “robot army.” But when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of this army in practice, this video is revealing.

So while Musk touts autonomous robots, it appears Optimus can still be remotely controlled — at least at public events aimed at promoting their autonomy.