(Image: tesla/X)Tesla’s head honcho Elon Musk has caused quite a stir on social media by posting a clip of the Tesla Optimus humanoid robot busting some groovy dance moves, showcasing both the robot’s nimble steps and the leaps the company has made in its tech development.
It all started back in 2021 when Tesla first introduced the humanoid Optimus robot at its yearly AI Day. To jazz things up, they had a person costumed as a humanoid robot hit the stage with some dance moves for the attendees.
Time whipped by, and nearly four years on, the robot finally strutted its stuff for real.
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The very first glimpse people caught of Optimus was at 2022’s AI Day, where Tesla trotted out a kind-of-working prototype, managing to traipse across the stage and pull off some rudimentary arm waves. Fast forward a year, and this bot could hold yoga stances and perform more sophisticated tasks like color-coded block sorting.
During last year’s “We, Robot” shin-dig at Tesla, a posse of Tesla Optimus robots played bartender and mingled with the crowd. They even had a moment when they busted dances moves together, arms and torsos perfectly in sync.
From its inception, Tesla has revved up its progress on the robot project over recent years, now tweaking its dance routine to bring more pizzazz and precision to its legwork. The latest dance-off video shared by Tesla is expected to herald a new era in the evolution of humanoid robots.
However, not everything’s about dance-offs and robot soirées; despite these robotic marvels, when Musks’s own Grok AI bot was wrangled into ranking the world’s top AI bots on X (formerly known as Twitter), it chimed in with its two cents.
“Ranking the top 5 humanoid robot manufacturers based on real-world test videos as of May 2025: 1. Boston Dynamics (Atlas) – excels in dynamic movements like parkour. 2. Figure AI (Figure 01/02) – deployed in factories, performing autonomous tasks. 3. Agility Robotics (Digit) – used in warehouses for material handling. 4. UBTECH (Walker S1) – active in automotive assembly lines. 5. Tesla (Optimus) – impressive mobility but early in practical application. The field is evolving rapidly, so rankings may shift with new advancements,” Grok wrote.
(Image: tesla/X)According to Tesla’s Q1 2025 updated letter, the company has already started limited production of the Optimus bot at its Fremont Factory.
Musk said the company plans to produce over 1,000 units of Tesla Optimus for internal use in 2025 and external sales by 2026.
Musk claims Tesla Optimus could be “more significant than Tesla’s vehicle business,” with a value of $25 trillion. Musk believes that by automating low-skill, repetitive jobs, Teslabots could reshape economies around the world.
Musk believes it could lead to an “age of abundance” where goods and services are cheaper.