Tesla's Optimus Robots Revealed to be Human-Assisted at 'We, Robot' Event

'Not Yet Fully Autonomous': Tesla's Optimus Robots Stole the Show -- But Were They Actually Controlled By Humans?

When one event attendee asked an Optimus robot if it was being remote-controlled, the robot confirmed that it was being helped by a human. At Tesla's "We, Robot" event on Thursday, CEO Elon Musk announced the upcoming Cybercab robotaxi and 20-seater, self-driving Robovan, but the grand finale was a line of Optimus robots. Though Musk claimed that the humanoid robot was "the biggest product of any kind, ever," new reports show that the futuristic robots were remotely controlled by humans -- and not as autonomous as they were pitched. Musk said the $20,000 to $30,000 robot could perform household tasks like mowing lawns and getting groceries. One analyst estimated that every household would have one in the next three years. Related: Elon Musk Announces the 'Cybercab' and Other Surprises at Tesla's 'We, Robot' Event. Here's What to Know. "Whatever you can think of, it will do," Musk said. Tesla's Optimus robots walked out into the crowd after the new Robovan reveal. It will be able to "babysit your kids, walk your dog," Elon Musk said byu/Soloflow786 inrobotics However, when one event attendee asked an Optimus robot if it was being remote-controlled, the robot said, "Today, I am assisted by a human. I'm not yet fully autonomous." Humans appeared to be helping the Optimus robots perform tasks at the event. Electrek spotted that each robot had a Tesla employee with a signaling device nearby. Tesla first announced plans to venture into autonomous robots in 2021; Musk has since said that Optimus could take Tesla to a $25 trillion market capitalization. Tesla was at a $700 billion market cap at the time of writing. Critics wrote that the robots deserved to be called a "parlor trick" and that Tesla "misled millions" who didn't know the bots were being operated by humans. Related: Tesla Sales Show Demand Could Be Speeding Up For Electric Cars Wedbush analyst Dan Ives thought the event was "jaw-dropping" and "historical" and was optimistic about the robots. Tesla has yet to respond to reports of the AI being remotely assisted.

Tesla's Optimus Robots Were Remotely Assisted By Humans At 'We, Robot' Event - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

However, the sources report the Optimus humanoid robot prototypes were able to walk unassisted using AI. Tesla, Inc. TSLA showed off its humanoid robot, Optimus, at the company's "We, Robot" unveiling event last Thursday. According to a Bloomberg report, humans were remotely assisting the Optimus robot prototypes with some functions. The Details: Tesla CEO Elon Musk showcased the latest version of his Optimus robots during the Cybercab (robotaxi) reveal, which also happened at the event, and predicted the humanoid robots would become "the biggest product ever of any kind." Musk did not reveal the robots were assisted or controlled remotely by humans. According to the Bloomberg report, Tesla employees remotely oversaw interactions between the Optimus robots and attendees of the event, said the sources who asked not to be identified. The sources reported the Optimus humanoid robot prototypes were able to walk unassisted using AI. Tesla did not immediately respond to Bloomberg's request for comment. Read Next: What's Going On With SoFi Technologies Stock? Several videos posted on social media show event attendees interacting with the robots who served drinks, sang "Happy Birthday" and even danced with guests. A video posted on X shows an Optimus robot serving in a bartending role and confirming he was being remotely assisted by a human. "Today, I'm assisted by a human. I'm not yet fully autonomous," the Optimus robot said in the video. Another video shows a guest asking Optimus how much of the robot is controlled by AI. "I can't disclose just how much, that's something you'll have to find out later," the robot said. "I would say, it might be some. I'm not going to confirm, but it might be some." Some Tesla influencers and investors said they felt betrayed or misled by Tesla's nondisclosure of Optimus' human assistance. But several analysts felt Optimus' interactions with guests at the event were impressive and are a potential catalyst for the company. Wedbush's Dan Ives highlighted "the massive improvements in Optimus" and said Cybercab and Optimus "could be a major financial contributor to Tesla" following last week's event. TSLA Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, Tesla shares ended Monday's session 0.62% higher at $219.16. Read Also: What's Going On With First Solar Stock? Photo: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Tesla's Optimus robots revealed to be human-controlled at "We, Robot" event

A hot potato: Tesla's splashy "We, Robot" event generated excitement among enthusiasts, but it also highlighted the complexities involved in developing truly autonomous robots and vehicles. The Cybercab is facing regulatory challenges before it becomes mainstream. As for the Optimus robots seen at the show, they were controlled by humans. Tesla's "We, Robot" event showcased the company's latest advancements in autonomous technology, but the stars of the afterparty were the Optimus robots, which mingled with guests, served drinks, and even danced. However, if you were curious about the progress of these robots, this event was not the right venue to find answers. As it turned out, they were actually controlled by humans behind the scenes. Robert Scoble, an AI enthusiast present at the event, initially shared videos of the robots in action. However, he later revealed that the robots were being "remote assisted" by humans. This information came to light when Scoble had a conversation with one of the robot operators. There were several signs suggesting that a human was in control of the robots. Each Optimus had a distinct voice, and its responses were immediate and accompanied by matching gestures. These characteristics are not typical of current AI technology, which often has a delay in processing and responding to complex, real-time interactions. In one revealing interaction, when asked about the level of AI involvement, an Optimus robot (or rather, its human operator) responded, "Today, I am assisted by a human." The voice even stumbled over the word "autonomous," which is not something a true robot would do. Despite the use of human operators, many attendees did not express disappointment or feel misled. The event seemed to be more of a showcase of potential future capabilities rather than a demonstration of current technology. Still, the revelation raises questions about the current state of Tesla's humanoid robotics program. While the company has made significant strides since first introducing Optimus, the extent of the robots' autonomous capabilities remains unclear. Clearly, Elon Musk is betting big on the technology. Musk has called the robot Tesla's most important in-development product, potentially bigger than its vehicle business. He's also very enthusiastic about their potential. Musk has said the Tesla robot could be an "incredible buddy like C3PO or R2-D2" and that it will be able to "develop a personality over time that is unique." He suggested they could do the cooking and cleaning for owners, or even teach their children. Musk has previously said that Optimus could enter limited production by 2025, with over 1,000 robots potentially operational in Tesla factories by the end of that year. However, the reliance on human control during this high-profile event suggests that fully autonomous humanoid robots may still be some way off.

Tesla Optimus bots were controlled by humans during the 'We, Robot' event | TechCrunch

During Tesla's "We, Robot" event last week, which TechCrunch covered late into the night,, sources on the ground sent me a handful of videos of the automaker's Optimus humanoid robots walking around the party, dancing, mixing drinks, and talking to guests. Most, if not all, of those who attended the affair are Tesla investors and fans, and so it wasn't surprising that the messages I received alongside the videos included glowing comments about how advanced the bots were. I asked one investor, who sent me a video of an Optimus doing different voices on command, whether he thought it was remote controlled, or if it was perhaps, incredibly, powered by Grok, the AI chatbot from Elon Musk's xAI. He told me he thought it was indeed Grok enabling the bot to converse with him. Did he ask the bot how it was able to talk to him? No, he said. He was too blown away. That appears to have been the point for Tesla - to inspire awe in a vision of the future. Others, including myself, were not as dazzled by what seems to have been sleight-of-hand at an event designed to engender enthusiasm among investors and fans. Bloomberg, The Verge, and other outlets have reported that the bots were being remotely operated by humans, a conclusion that is easy enough to arrive at considering that they all had different voices and their responses and hand gestures were immediate and synchronized. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas also wrote in a report that the bots "relied on tele-ops (human intervention)." Sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that while the Optimus prototypes were able to walk without external control using AI, employees stationed remotely oversaw many of the interactions between the bots and attendees during the "We, Robot" event. At least one video from the event displayed an Optimus bartender acknowledging that it was being "assisted by a human." The humans controlling its bots raises questions over the capabilities of the technology, and whether they'll be ready to go to market at a price tag of around $20,000 to $30,000 each any time soon. "As you can see, we started up with someone in a robot suit, and then we've progressed dramatically year after year," Musk said in his remarks last week. "So if you extrapolate this, you're really going to have something spectacular, something that anyone could own, so you can have your own personal R2-D2 [or] C-3PO." "What can it do? It'll be able to do anything you want," the executive continued. "It can be a teacher, babysit your kids. It can walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries, just be your friend, serve drinks. Whatever you can think of, it will do." It appears many investors were unconvinced by Tesla's song and dance (literally - the bots did a choreographed dance). Tesla's stock took an 11% hit Friday after the event, although that was also likely a response to Musk's failure to provide insights into near-term revenue strategy for the Robotaxi as well as specific technological updates to FSD, the automaker's advanced driver assistance system. Some, however, remain unbothered by the bots being controlled by humans behind the scenes. Analyst George Gianarikas at Canaccord Genuity wrote, "So What!" in a note to clients Monday. "The dexterity shown and developmental progress exhibited by the robots were off the charts," the analyst said. "And, as Mr. Musk has pointed out before, the robotics industry currently does not have a well-developed supply chain. That means that Tesla, with its internal manufacturing acumen, battery expertise, proficiency in motor design, electronics know-how, and mechanical engineering resources has the potential to create a vertically integrated robotics behemoth over the long term."

Tesla acknowledges humans assisted robots at AI event

Tesla responded Thursday by posting a video on X bragging about the robot's capabilities in what was seen as an attempt to provide assurances that the demonstration wasn't all smoke and mirrors. Catch up quick: At the event last week, Musk said Optimus will eventually cost about $20,000 to $30,000, though he acknowledged it'll "take us a minute" to get there. Yes, but: Optimus engineer Milan Kovac acknowledged Wednesday in his own message on X that "of course they were human assisted to some extent to help showcase our vision of an amazing future." What they're saying: "So it was more a demonstration of degrees of freedom and agility," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a research note. My thought bubble: When robots aren't robotic, you know they've still got a long way to go.

Tesla's Optimus robots at 'We, Robot' event were not very autonomous

Here I go, walking around completely on my own. Or am I? Credit: Tesla Tesla's main announcement coming from the company's recent "We, Robot" event was the Robotaxi (or the CyberCab, we're still not sure about the name). But perhaps the biggest impression was made by Tesla's updated Optimus robots, which freely walked among the crowd, talked to guests, served drinks, played games, and danced. Tesla CEO Elon Musk hyped up the robot, saying how it'll be "the biggest product of any kind, ever" and that it "can be a teacher, babysit your kids, it can walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries. Just be your friend, serve drinks. Whatever you can think of, it will do." But the company and its leader were (seemingly intentionally) ambiguous about what Optimus can really do autonomously right now. At the event, it sure seemed like the robots could do a lot. In a particularly impressive demonstration, YouTuber Marques Brownlee played a game of charades with Optimus. And the way Optimus was behaving while serving drinks, interacting with people, and listening to instructions and executing them right away, seemed a little too good to be true. Well, it now appears that it was a little too good to be true. Electrek did some digging and found numerous clues that the Optimus robots present at Tesla's event were at least partly remote controlled. For example, tech guy Robert Scoble said a Tesla engineer told him that Optimus was run by AI "when it walked" -- the part about talking having seemingly been omitted on purpose. Perhaps the best clue comes from this video, in which the Tesla Optimus bot not only talks and behaves extremely similarly to a human, but also confirms that it's "assisted by a human" and "not yet fully autonomous." Another clue comes from Musk himself, in a reply to an X post about the possibility of people with disabilities potentially making a living "by controlling an Optimus bot remotely making drinks for people, moving packages, or whatever else." To this, Musk replied "yeah." It's a very Muskian thing to do: Bring the robots to an event, hype up how amazingly autonomous they'll be, but then be very shady about the fact that they're actually remotely controlled or assisted. The problem with this approach is that it tells us very little about how far Optimus has progressed since it was just a human in a robot suit. Can it really talk, answer complex queries, react to visual cues from humans, serve drinks, and do household chores, or is this version still far off? We may find out at the next Tesla event. Then again, we may not.

Tesla Showcases Optimus' Autonomous Navigation, Charging Abilities After Admitting They Were Human Assisted 'To Some Extent' At Robotaxi Unveiling Event - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

EV giant Tesla Inc. TSLA on Thursday shared a new video of its Optimus humanoid robot operating around a company factory by itself, demonstrating progress made including its ability to avoid people while navigating. What Happened: The video shared by Tesla shows the robot navigating autonomously around Tesla's factory while avoiding people and objects. The humanoid robot can now navigate to its charging stations, dock itself, and charge as long as necessary, the video shows. The humanoid robot can also now interact with humans and hand over snacks and drinks upon verbal or gesture request, the video added. "Our work on Autopilot has greatly boosted these efforts; the same technology is used in both car & bot, barring some details and of course the dataset needed to train the bot's AI," Head of Engineering For Optimus Milan Kovac said in a post on X. Tesla showcased its Optimus bots at its robotaxi unveiling event earlier this month. About 20 active robots walked through the crowd assembled at the event. Optimus poured drinks, handed out snacks, and performed dance moves. However, the robots were human-assisted to "some extent" to showcase the company's vision at the event, Kovac admitted earlier this week. The company, however, made significant improvements in Optimus' hardware stability and infrastructure to operate the robots in a public outdoor environment as part of the event, the engineer added. Why It Matters: During Tesla's annual shareholder meeting in June, Musk said that there will be at least one humanoid robot for every person in the world in the future, implying a total humanoid robot population of at least 10 billion or more, of which the EV company will have a significant share. "While autonomous vehicle is a $5-$7 trillion market cap situation, Optimus is a $25 trillion market cap situation," Musk then said. Musk expects to be able to sell Optimus at $10,000 or $20,000, at a lower price point than Tesla's cheapest Model 3 sedan, once it reaches high-volume production. In July, the CEO also said that the EV company would have "genuinely useful" humanoid robots in low production for use within its factories next year. The company will "hopefully" increase production for other customers in 2026, he said. Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link. Read More: Elon Musk Mourned Tesla's Lack Of Market Share In Japan In January; EV Giant Now Opens 600th Supercharger Post In Country Photo courtesy: Tesla Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Tesla's walking, talking Optimus robots were partly controlled by...

The walking, talking Optimus robots that stole the show during Elon Musk's splashy "Cybercab" event in Hollywood last week were operated in part through remote control by humans, according to a report. The faceless, nearly six-foot-tall figures served fruity cocktails, danced to techno music and chit-chatted with guests. Although Optimus bots were able to walk using artificial intelligence, many of their actions were controlled remotely by Tesla employees, sources told Bloomberg. After the event on Thursday, guests took to social media to speculate over the bots' so-called autonomous capabilities. While Musk didn't discuss the limits of the technology behind the bots during the event, the Optimus bots appeared to be forthcoming under questioning from guests. In one video posted to X, a bartending bot at the event told a guest: "Today, I'm assisted by a human. I'm not yet fully autonomous." Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Musk on Thursday claimed Optimus would be "the biggest product ever of any kind" - able to mow the lawn, walk the dog, watch the kids or just be a friend. The billionaire said the bots would cost less than a car -- between $20,000 to $30,000. Earlier this year, he said Tesla may be able to sell the humanoid robots by the end of next year. The Cybercab event was the first opportunity for non-Tesla employees to interact with Optimus - and it was a highlight for many investors and Tesla fanatics who were left otherwise underwhelmed by the event. But the remote control revelation dashes hopes that Optimus will be ready for release so soon. Experts previously told The Post it would likely take up to a decade before the robots could be released in full swing. "The robot still faces challenges in areas like walking steadily in uneven terrain, lasting all day on a single battery charge, and safely navigating around people and pets -- a thornier problem than it might seem," QueryPal CEO Dev Nag told The Post. "While Musk is known for his ambitious timelines, most experts believe Optimus will first prove itself in factories and warehouses before it's ready for household use," he said. It's not the first time Musk has raised tech junkies' hopes. During a Tesla event in 2021, he introduced his "Tesla bot" -- and then a man in a robot suit took to the stage and performed a dance. The next year, he introduced a prototype that needed to be held up by a stand. The Optimus robots were not originally a part of last week's event. Musk gave employees three weeks' notice that he wanted the robots included in the Cybercab event, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The time crunch left little room for employees to ramp up the software -- which meant remote operation was necessary, the person said. The event also showcased a new Cybercab taxi and 20-person "robovan." Guests - including investors, Wall Street analysts and Tesla fans -- went for rides in driverless Cybercabs. The highly-anticipated autonomous taxis ultimately left fans, and Wall Street, disappointed. Techies complained the event lacked enough technical details. The company's stock suffered its worst decline the day after the event in more than two months. Tesla's billionaire CEO had been set to discuss more autonomous-driving related items on stage, a person familiar with the planning told Bloomberg. His presentation was supposed to include more details about the artificial intelligence behind Tesla's truck, a future ride-hailing service and software pricing, the source said. He either skipped the material or removed it from the event schedule, the person told Bloomberg. The revelation that Optimus was partially remote-controlled may further disappoint some analysts, since most had called the bots a pleasant surprise and called them the highlight of the event. "What Tesla unveiled last night was jaw-dropping," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told The Post the day after the event. "Last night, I believe, it was a historical event."

Reports: Tesla's prototype Optimus robots were controlled by humans

After Elon Musk provided his "long-term" vision for autonomous, humanoid robots at last week's "We, Robot" event, we expressed some skepticism about the autonomy of the Optimus prototypes sent out for a post-event mingle with the assembled, partying humans. Now, there's been a raft of confirmation that human teleoperators were indeed puppeting the robot prototypes for much of the night. Bloomberg cites unnamed "people familiar with the matter" in reporting that Tesla "used humans to remotely control some capabilities" of the prototype robots at the event. The report doesn't specify which demonstrated capabilities needed that human assistance, but it points out that the robots "were able to walk without external control using artificial intelligence" (the lack of a similar AI call-out for any other robot actions that night seems telling). That lines up with reporting from tech blogger Robert Scoble, who posted on social media that he had "talked with an engineer" who confirmed that "when it walked, that is AI running Optimus." For other tasks -- like pouring drinks from a tap, playing Rock Paper Scissors, or chatting with nearby attendees -- Scoble noted that "a human is remote assisting." Social media video from the "We, Robot" event shows lines of Optimus robots slowly walking into the party without any apparent assistance. In the footage, though, the parade of Optimus prototypes only walks in a straight line and is given a very wide berth enforced by lines of Tesla minders. Electrek reports that streamed video footage from the event shows Tesla minders holding some sort of signaling device as they hovered nearby the Optimus units. Electrek also notes that Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jones mentioned the robot's human controllers in an investor note Friday morning. "It is our understanding that these robots were not operating entirely autonomously -- but relied on tele-ops (human intervention) so it was more a demonstration of degrees of freedom and agility," Jones wrote.

Elon Musk's Optimus bot stole the show at Tesla's robotaxi unveil -- but the AI was all smoke and mirrors

On paper, Thursday night's "We, Robot" event may have belonged to Tesla's robotaxi, but the real star of the show was Optimus. Elon Musk's humanoid robot wowed attendees as a half dozen or so navigated their way safely through the crowd at Warner Bros. studio lot in Hollywood entirely untethered. Just two years ago, the droid couldn't even make it onto a stage on its own. But the latest iteration was talking with guests, playing rock-paper-scissors or simply pouring a drink from a tap for the thirsty -- before coolly flashing a peace sign with its metallic hand. "This will be the biggest product ever -- of any kind," Musk predicted on stage that night. He wanted attendees to see the new and improved version of the robot for the first time, without relying on canned videos taken of the machine operating inside the walls of Tesla's facilities. "The Optimus robots will walk among you, please be nice," Musk added. NOT THE FIRST CONTROVERSY FOR OPTIMUS While fans attending the event were duly impressed by the Cybercab and the larger Robovan -- which was not pre-announced -- autonomous vehicles have been shown off before. Waymo even operates them commercially in select cities. By comparison, nothing felt more futuristic than interacting with a creation only known from science fiction movies and books. "Crazy, I'm talking to a robot," said John Stringer, the founder of Tesla Owners Silicon Valley. It was a stunning display of technological progress that transported attendees to the future, were it not for one thing: The machines were not in fact exhibiting any true artificial intelligence at all. https://x.com/zhen9436/status/1844773471240294651?s=61&t=GzPrMPqx1H24t4TRy2DnQQ They were voiced and operated by humans remotely wearing special suits that translated their movements to the droid. "Today I'm assisted by a human, I'm not yet fully autonomous," one Optimus operator admitted on video that was shot by a guest who asked. For many it was reminiscent of another controversy, when Musk shared in January footage of Optimus folding a shirt. Keen observers quickly pointed to the hand of its operator, which failed to be cropped out. 'CALL IT THE PARLOR TRICK IT IS' Tesla has been training its robots with the help of people using specialized feedback suits, but Musk gave no indication on Thursday that the robots were operating by any other force than the AI with which they were trained. He certainly did not mention that the ones in the crowd were essentially metal marionettes. "Totally worthy to celebrate low latency remote control," posted Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital, "but totally dishonest to demo these as autonomous robots -- call it the parlor trick it is." https://x.com/troyteslike/status/1845047695284613344?s=61&t=GzPrMPqx1H24t4TRy2DnQQ Neither Tesla nor Elon Musk responded to a Fortune request to explain their reasons. Optimus is not just any prototype. Musk believes it will be Tesla's most important product in history. In June, he predicted it would one day sell for as low as $20,000, cost half that to make, and sell 100 million times over every year. MUSK'S $25 TRILLION BUSINESS As a result, he has gone on the record saying annual earnings from Optimus could hit $1 trillion. And if you add a multiple he estimates conservatively, that one business alone should be worth $25 trillion. Omar Qazi, a veteran Tesla influencer with ties to Musk who functions like an unofficial brand ambassador, readily admitted humans were moving the robots like puppets, but he argued the prototype's mechanics were still a major accomplishment, even if it lacked AI. "If you're not impressed with tele operated Optimus," he wrote, "go try and make your own robot and try and make it walk through a crowded event without hurting anyone." But others, including Tesla content creator Jeremy Judkins, were disappointed by the lack of transparency. "I just wish Tesla was more open and honest at this event, because they gave no, no -- NO -- hints that the robots were controlled by humans," he said.

Optimus Robots at Tesla's Cybercab Event Were Controlled by Humans

The robots' interactions were touted as a significant step forward in real-time response to verbal and visual. At a Cybercab event this week, Tesla unveiled its Optimus robots, capturing attention with their ability to interact, serve drinks, and entertain guests with dance performances. The event was filled with visuals showcasing the robots engaging with attendees -- even answering questions -- that hinted at remarkable technological advancement in a short time. Yet questions about the robots' autonomy surfaced quickly. The robots' interactions were touted as a significant step forward in real-time response to verbal and visual cues, potentially marking a breakthrough in AI technology. Yet accounts from those present painted a slightly different picture. A tech enthusiast, Robert Scoble, shared insights from the event, suggesting that human operators were "remote assisting" the robots, Verge reported. Further clarification came when an engineer explained that the AI primarily facilitated walking functions, as reported by Electrek. A Morgan Stanley analyst, Adam Jonas, also commented on the use of "tele-ops (human intervention)," reinforcing the notion that the robots were not operating entirely autonomously. Observations during the event supported these statements, with varied robotic voices and immediate responses indicating pre-programmed interactions. For instance, when Mr. Scoble inquired about AI control, one robot humorously replied, "it might be some," while another candidly told an audience member, "Today, I am assisted by a human," openly admitting its limited autonomy.

Elon Musk's Beer-Pouring Optimus Robots Are Not Autonomous

The robots were interacting with guests at Tesla's big Cybercab event Thursday in L.A. Elon Musk has done it again. And by "it," we mean tricked a lot of people with "autonomous" robots that are actually being helped by unseen human operators. And this isn't the first time Musk has done this. On Thursday night, Tesla threw a highly anticipated media event at Warner Bros. studios near Los Angeles and unveiled a prototype robotaxi that Musk calls the Cybercab. Consumers will have to wait on that one since Musk says it's still 2-3 years away, just as it has been for the past decade. But that didn't dampen spirits at the afterparty, as people who attended the Tesla event posted dozens of videos on social media with Musk's Optimus robots. Attendees seemed very impressed as the robots were dancing, talking, and even mixing drinks. However, longtime tech evangelist Robert Scoble actually asked some questions to see just how autonomous these robots are. And it's not very encouraging. "Optimus make me a drink, please. This is not wholly AI. A human is remote assisting. Which means AI day next year where we will see how fast Optimus is learning," Scoble tweeted along with a video. Other users wanted to know how Scoble figured it out. The tech influencer tweeted back simply, "I asked." Scoble can be heard in the video asking one of the robots, "Hey Optimus, how much of you is AI?" The robot, or whoever was controlling it, seemed to scramble for an answer, saying "I can't disclose just how much. That's something you'll have to find out later." "But some or none?" Scoble asked with a laugh. "I would say, it might be some. I'm not going to confirm, but it might be some," the robot responded. That pretty much tells you all you need to know. If Musk had really built a bunch of robots that could interact with large crowds in real time, the robot would've bragged about it. Instead, the response was evasive. Scoble made a follow-up tweet saying he talked with a Tesla engineer to get clarity. "When it walked that is AI running Optimus. It is real impressive they brought so many out in crowds at @tesla's event," Scoble wrote, without elaborating further. Plenty of people thought they were fully independent robots, interacting with humans just like other human beings. "This tech is years ahead of any competition," one user on X wrote. The problem is, based on everything we know about Tesla's robotics achievements, Musk is actually way behind the competition. In fact, Musk's competition started adding the words "no teleoperation" to their videos precisely because he got caught fudging a demonstration video back in January. The video showed Optimus folding a shirt, but eagle-eyed viewers noticed that a hand kept waving into the camera's field of vision. There was someone just off-screen performing the task of folding and the robot mimicked the human. As you can see in the GIF below, we've added a red arrow to show you where the human hand is. That technology, teleoperation, is so cutting edge that it dates to the 1940s. But none of Musk's magic tricks should be surprising. He did hold the event Thursday at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, so you knew he was going to try adding some movie magic. And Musk's first robot demo in 2021 was so embarrassing it's hard to even call it a trick. It was literally just a human dressed in a robot costume doing a stupid little dance. As one credulous user on X put it, "Tesla 2022. Person in a Robot suit. Tesla 2024. Actual Robot." And putting aside the fact that Musk's fake robot suit happened in 2021, it would be impressive if these robots were indeed playing rock-paper-scissors fully autonomously without human intervention and holding fast conversations without any kind of lag at all. But we've seen no evidence that that's what might be happening. Musk talked about Optimus at the event without giving any indication that they were anything but fully autonomous. He said they would mow your lawn, get your groceries, and even watch your kids. But doing those kinds of activities would require full AI-powered autonomy unless you wanted to hire a human sitting remotely somewhere controlling them. And then, what's the point? Musk also said the robots would eventually cost $20-30,000 long-term and claimed Optimus would be "the biggest product ever of any kind." But, again, that's hard to achieve if your robot requires a lot of human intervention behind the scenes. Gizmodo has reached out to Tesla to get some clarification about what level of autonomy the Optimus robots were achieving on Thursday. We'll update this post if we hear back.

Tesla's Robots Were Just Remotely Controlled Dummies, Analyst Confirms

The bots at the robotaxi event "relied on tele-ops (human intervention)." Tesla's "We, Robot" event last week failed to impress investors, with shares of the EV maker dropping precipitously on Friday morning. The company put on a glitzy show on a Hollywood movie studio lot, an appropriate venue given that most of what Tesla showed off was a mere hint of what the future could one day look like -- not the current state of technology. Case in point: An army of extremely "I, Robot"-like Optimus humanoid robots could be seen pouring drinks and conversing with eventgoers. But despite Tesla CEO Elon Musk making a big deal out of artificial intelligence at the event, the robots were teleoperated by humans, a smoke-and-mirrors tech demo that had investors shaking their heads, and raising plenty of questions over Tesla's ability to bring the tech to the masses. In a note, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote that the bots "relied on tele-ops (human intervention)." Sources also told Bloomberg that the Optimus robots were reportedly using AI to walk, but relied on assistance from a nearby human to chat. During the event, Musk promised that Optimus "can be a teacher, babysit your kids, it can walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries, just be your friend, serve drinks. Whatever you can think of, it will do." But given the fact that it still relies on a human for assistance, such a future is likely still many years out -- if it ever materializes. A video that circulated on social media following the event showed an Optimus robot skillfully holding down a conversation. "What's the hardest thing about being a robot?" it was asked. "Uhh... trying to... learn to be as human as you guys," the robot replied. Investors were also unimpressed by the company's "robotaxi" vehicle called the Cybercab, an avant-garde, two-seater take on the kind of vehicles the likes of Waymo have been using as part of their autonomous ride-hailing service for years. In short, despite still being worth more than the world's top automakers combined, Tesla has far more to prove than ever before. And that's in large part thanks to Musk's penchant for making wildly disproportionate and overly ambitious claims. CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson described the event as "watching a movie with a lot of plot twists and special effects, and at the end, you're walking out scratching your head." We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Tesla's Optimus Robots Were Remotely Operated at Cybercab Event

Tesla Inc. used humans to remotely control some capabilities of its Optimus robot prototypes at a recent event designed to generate investor enthusiasm for forthcoming products, according to people familiar with the matter. Employees stationed elsewhere oversaw many of the interactions between the humanoid machines and attendees of last week's "We, Robot" showcase near Los Angeles, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing company operations. The Optimus prototypes were able to walk without external control using artificial intelligence, the people said.

It sure seems like the Optimus robots at Tesla's event were under human control

We didn't learn much new from Tesla's Robotaxi event last night, but one piece of information we were looking forward to was a little information on Optimus, Tesla's humanoid robot. And we got some, but it's maybe a little less flattering to Tesla than some might have liked. After unveiling the Robotaxi/Cybercab and Robovan, Tesla CEO Elon Musk went on to give us a little bit of information on the Optimus humanoid robot that the company has been working on. Musk mentioned "we started up with someone in a robot suit, and then we've progressed dramatically year after year" as several robots walked out in front of the crowd. He referred to these as "your own personal R2D2 C3-PO," and that in the long term, these robots would cost less than a car - specifically, ~$20k-$30k. A video also described them as an "autonomous assistant, humanoid friend" which could be used for basically any task you can think of. Musk said that Optimus would be "the biggest product of any kind, ever" and figured everyone on Earth would want one or two of them, which is language he has used before (nevermind that most of the 8 billion people on Earth do not have the wealth to afford one new car, much less two). He also said that it would result in an "age of abundance" where the cost of everything would drop dramatically. But beyond all that, Tesla took this event as an opportunity to debut Optimus in front of - and among - a live audience. Musk said: One of the things we wanted to show tonight was that Optimus is not a canned video, it's not walled-off. The Optimus robots will walk among you. Please be nice to the Optimus robots. So you'll be able to walk right up to them... and they'll serve drinks at the bar, and you'll directly... I mean it's a wild experience just to have humanoid robots and they're there, just in front of you. He then ended his speech by throwing to a group of humanoid robots dancing in a gazebo (not unlike a video made by Honda ten years ago...), and attendees were indeed able to interact with these robots in person. Tesla's event stream continued by showing videos of the party, including some videos of guests interacting with robots. The robots waved, handed out goodie bags, served drinks, posed for photos, walked through the crowd, and even played rock paper scissors (though, again, not as well as this robot with a 100% winrate from 12 years ago). The robots did all have a Tesla employee "minder" watching them closely, but visibly holding some sort of signaling device in their hand. In the video, you can see one of the employees operating this device. The official Tesla video (which had no audio, as music was playing over it) also showed a few robots serving drinks, though these were not custom mixed drinks, merely two choices of pre-mixed drinks served from beer taps. The robots seemed to do so successfully enough, though they were somewhat wobbly while serving the drinks (see here), which seemed odd - as if the robots weren't all that great at balancing themselves, or their motions weren't properly damped or something. But then, attendees started posting videos from the event, and something seemed... off. There is one widely-shared video of an employee seeming to trigger Musk's Robotaxi departure from a phone - but that's understandable enough, given that Waymo's currently-operating Level 4 taxis interface with the rider's phone to unlock the car and start a ride as well, and it makes sense from a stage management perspective of keeping the event running on cue (albeit 40+ minutes late). But the stranger videos were of direct interactions with the Optimus robots that "walked among us" in the crowd. It turns out the robots each had a voice and could be talked to. So, you could make a drink order, or even just have a conversation with the robots that were walking the crowd. In conversation, the robots were impressively realistic in their conversational tone, responding quickly and with natural speech. We've seen some interesting developments in this respect from ChatGPT 4o, with natural intonation, but you can still tell that there's something robotic going on there. But perhaps they were too impressive, because these conversations certainly seem to have a human on the other side of them. Each of the robots we've seen had a different voice, and a different accent - though mostly California or Texas accents, the two locations where Tesla has significant presence. One even reportedly spoke Spanish, impressing one attendee, though conversational Spanish is also not particularly uncommon in the areas where Tesla operates, so the employee behind the curtain could well just be bilingual. This video, in particular, of a robot talking about the geography of the Bay Area, is a fun one. Not only does the robot make a very human error when it asks whether the attendee lives in the "Santa Clarita" area near San Jose (it's Santa Clara - Santa Clarita is in Southern California, not the Bay Area), it also hears a non-standard pronunciation "Los Gatos" and then responds with a more common one. One tech evangelist in attendance, Robert Scoble, says that he talked to an engineer at the event who told him that Optimus was running on AI while walking through the crowd, but that otherwise there was human remote assistance. Indeed, most observers seem to think that these was some level of remote operation going on during the event. Even Adam Jonas, Morgan Stanley's analyst who covers Tesla and is usually very bullish on everything that Tesla announces, said in a note this morning that: "It is our understanding that these robots were not operating entirely autonomously - but relied on tele-ops (human intervention) so it was more a demonstration of degrees of freedom and agility." The upshot of all of this is that Tesla, as is often the case, seems to be playing fast and loose with the truth. While it may have reasonably impressive dexterity, and remote-operated robots could have some real uses (for example, putting remote-operated robots into dangerous situations where human-like limbs and manipulation would nevertheless be useful), Tesla instead decided to obscure the real information about the technology they were showcasing, suggesting that AI-driven robots would walk among the crowd when really they were relying on some amount of remote operation. And that just leaves a bitter taste in everyone's mouth - or at least, in the mouths of those whose information comes from somewhere other than the heavily curated twitter algorithm.

That bartending Tesla robot was actually controlled by a human the whole time

Tesla's big autonomy event last night was mainly focused around the two-seat Cybercab and art deco city bus Robovan, but the company also talked about some updates to Optimus -- the painfully slow robot that Elon Musk hopes will be an infinite money glitch for the company. The event's afterparty heavily featured Optimus as a bartender and dancer, but it turns out the bot wasn't doing anything itself. Tesla employees were remote controlling it the whole time. Robert Scoble, an AI enthusiast in attendance at the event, posted a video to Twitter of Optimus pouring drinks and waving to attendees. A second video, in which Scoble has a conversation with the bot's operator and directly addresses the question of whether Optimus did anything autonomously at the party. The answer appears to be a resounding no. The fact that Optimus could carry on a conversation, alone, is a sign that the bot was primarily being remote controlled. The voice responding to Scoble's questions, seemingly coming from some onboard speaker, doesn't sound AI-generated -- it's clearly a human operator somewhere behind the scenes. The response itself, saying that there might be some AI involved, is not the kind of answer given by a company happily showing off its latest advancements in artificial intelligence. That's the kind of thing you say when you're trying to pretend like you're using any AI at all.

Tesla Shows Off Talking Robot That Sounds an Awful Lot Like a Guy Speaking Into a Microphone

Tesla put on a big show at its Robotaxi event on Thursday night. But nothing was more eyebrow-raising than its Optimus robots: the slim, sleek, AI-powered humanoids that are supposedly capable of "everything," according to CEO Elon Musk. "The Optimus will walk among you," Musk said at the event, as quoted by The Verge. "You'll be able to walk right up to them, and they will serve drinks." And serve drinks, they did -- slowly. The robots were also paraded onstage and did a bunch of jigs and dances to predictable choices of music. It was once they got into the mix of the crowd, however, that they were able to really show off. And maybe a little too much. In a video shared by the official Tesla Owners Silicon Valley account, for example, an Optimus robot skillfully holds down a conversation with a human presenter. "What's the hardest thing about being a robot?" it was asked. "Uhh... trying to... learn to be as human as you guys," the robot replied. But its speech is so seamless and lifelike -- and without any of the slight processing delays you'd expect from an AI model -- that many speculated that the robot's "voice" might actually be someone remotely speaking into a microphone. While Tesla didn't outright promise that its Optimus robots could speak with the help of a large language model, given Musk's continued focus on AI during the rest of the event, it wasn't exactly a big assumption to make. "That voice is just a dude hidden somewhere, not the robot," tech journalist Parix Marx wrote in a tweet. This wouldn't be unprecedented sleight-of-hand for Tesla. Earlier this year, when Musk shared a video of an Optimus robot folding clothes, skeptics noted that it appeared that the machine was actually being controlled by an engineer. It was only in a later reply that Musk felt he needed to clarify that the robot wasn't capable of doing that task autonomously. And again: what's telling is that it doesn't appear that Musk ever explicitly claimed that the Optimus robots could talk, and thus avoided putting himself on the hook. Instead, he can just dangle the facade of robot conversationalists, dazzle everyone up front, and clear things up later (or not) after the breathless PR has already taken hold. The on-the-ground opinion of Robert Scoble, an ardent tech evangelist who attended the event, was that they were "not wholly AI," and that the voice was more or less a "walkie talkie." "A human is remote assisting," he wrote in a tweet. In another video, he also explicitly asked an Optimus model how much of it is AI-powered. "I can't disclose just how much," the robot replied. "That's something you'll have to find out later." "But some, or none?" Scoble prodded. "I would say... it might be some," it answered sheepishly. "I'm not gonna confirm, but it might be some." We'll let that speak for itself.

Tesla's Optimus robots are more human than they seem - Softonic

Tesla has unveiled the Cybercab, a fully autonomous taxi that will not require a driver Elon Musk has unveiled Tesla's autonomous taxi, known as the Cybercab, at the large-scale event We, Robot. From the Warner Bros studios in Burbank, attendees were able to see the driverless prototypes navigate a closed circuit for the first time. To top it off, the presentation was enlivened by the humanoid robots Optimus, also from Tesla. These robots, at first glance, leaned more towards the human than the synthetic. One of the attendees, Robert Scoble, posted on his X profile that the Optimus robots were being remotely controlled by humans. Later, he clarified that, according to an engineer, they were using AI to walk. The signs were there. The immediate responses, the difference in voices between robots, gesticulation... too good to be true. It's not like Tesla was very concerned about maintaining the illusion either. Another of the Optimus at the event revealed to one of the attendees that "today a person is helping me" and that it was not entirely autonomous. In the recorded video, it is also noticeable that it does not completely pronounce the word "autonomous" correctly.

Elon Musk-owned Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot serves drinks, performs tasks: Watch Video & check price

Elon Musk on Thursday unveiled several humanoid Optimus robots at Tesla's 'We Robot' event held in California that were seen walking out, serving drinks, and handing out gift bags to the attendees. Dancing humanoid robots Optimus he said would one day be able to do menial tasks, as well as offer friendship, reported Reuters. "The Optimus will walk among you," Musk stated, adding, "You'll be able to walk right up to them, and they will serve drinks." Optimus will be capable of walking your dog, babysitting your kids, fetching groceries, mowing your lawn, Elon Musk added. In a video demo displayed at the event, Optimus was also seen doing household tasks such as watering plants and picking up packages. "I think this will be the biggest product ever of any kind," Musk said. Musk added, "I think everyone among the 8 billion people on Earth will want an Optimus buddy." "Optimus robot will revolutionise the world more than ever!" Musk said in a post on X. "Whatever you can think of, it will do," he said. The tech billionaire touted "a lot of progress" made with its humanoid robot "Optimus" that could eventually be priced at $20,000 to $30,000 and can perform many daily tasks. During the demonstration, the robot was seen taking a glass, positioning it under a tap, and pouring the beverage. The bot then asked the person filming if they wanted a photo, posing with a peace sign. Social media users showered praises on Elon Musk for unveiling Optimus with many calling it "epic" and "insane". "This is INSANE. Elon Musk introduces the Optimus robot.. it can talk, dance, pour you a drink and do whatever you want them to," a user commented. "This @Tesla technology is absolutely incredible. @elonmusk is a genius who makes things happen! Do you want a life of abundance like #ElonMusk predicts? Do you want a #bot? Do you want an #Optimus? This can only happen under #maga. #kamala will throttle innovation with regulation and then suffocate it with inflation and taxes," another user commented. Musk also used the event to reveal more about Tesla's future plans, including the upcoming robotaxi, which he predicted would be available by 2027. The robotaxi, with no steering wheel or pedals, will rely on artificial intelligence and is expected to be fully autonomous. Musk called it "10 to 20 times safer" than human-driven cars and said it would cost less than $30,000. The event also featured a "Robovan," capable of carrying up to 20 passengers, further highlighting Tesla's shift toward robotics and AI-driven transportation.

Can Optimus Spark A ChatGPT Moment For Robotics?

Optimus reads a person's T-shirt that says, "Robots are coming." It fluently replies, "We are already here." Tesla CEO Elon Musk showcased the company's humanoid robot, Optimus, which can walk one's dog, mow the lawn, do household chores, babysit, and even speak GenZ language while showing smooth hand gestures. He unveiled the robots at the 'We, Robot' event at Warner Bros. studio in California on October 10. "Optimus robots will walk among you; please be nice to them," he says seconds before a line of robots enters the audience. Multiple videos on X showed the robot interacting with the audience at the event. Upon discovering someone's birthday, it sang a song and later performed 'Sunflower' alongside American rapper Swae Lee. It continued to amaze the audience when a group of Optimus robots entertained the crowd by dancing and serving drinks, all while posing for photos. When asked if it was smarter than humans, the Optimus robot responded, "I am definitely smart." At the event, Optimus reads a person's T-shirt that says, "Robots are coming." To this, it replies fluently, "We are already here." A member of the audience posted on X that he was very impressed by Tesla's improvements to Optimus. "The additional degrees of freedom noticeably enhance its human-like movement," he added. Tesla launched the Optimus Robot at Tesla AI Day in 2022, when Musk estimated the robot to cost much less than a Tesla car, even though the same self-driving computer powers both products. Musk envisions a future where every human on earth wants their own Optimus buddy. Four days ago, in the showcase, he estimated the cost of purchasing your Optimus to be between $20,000 and $30,000 and added that it would decline dramatically. Human: "What's the hardest thing about being a robot?" Tesla Optimus: "Trying to be as human as you are." The robot displayed 22 degrees of freedom (DoF), the hand movement capabilities, as it played rock, paper, scissors with a fan at the event. This is a major improvement from the December 2023 update, when Optimus Gen2 displayed 11 DoF and the tactile sensation of handling delicate objects like eggs. Now, it is able to mix and serve drinks at populated events. As amazing as this revelation sounds, some are still not moved. Quite a few are coming out on X to express their lack of conviction regarding Optimus's capabilities. Zeff Pena, a financial educator, said, "The robot is remotely controlled for now. But, this alone could be someone's 'physical avatar'." When talking about Tesla's tele-control, the question is whether it should be revealed. But tech enthusiasts feel the focus needs to be on demonstrating dexterity, not completely on autonomy. Since autonomy is Tesla's strength, it will be achieved with time. In time, the robot started to pick up and organise items with improved actuators and sensors, perform yoga with a 2-degree-of-freedom (DoF) actuated neck, and move through its environment with a walking speed increased by 30%, thanks to new electric motors. It also introduced enhancements like torque sensing, articulated toe sections, and a human-like foot design. Optimus has come a long way since its prototype launch in 2022, when it could only wave on the stage.

Here's when Elon Musk's walking, talking Optimus robots could come to...

Elon Musk claimed this week that Tesla's humanoid robots will be "the biggest product ever of any kind" -- sparking a lively debate over when and whether he'll manage to put a robot in every house. The walking, talking Optimus robots stole the show during a Thursday night event in Los Angeles to reveal the company's "Cybercar," a self-driving taxi. The nearly 6-foot-tall robots danced onstage to techno music, served up fruity cocktails and played rock, paper, scissors. Musk said the bots can "basically do anything you want" - like mowing your lawn, cleaning the kitchen after dinner, babysitting your kids or just being a friend -- and will cost less than a car, between $20,000 to $30,000 in the long term. Musk was quiet about the timing on Thursday, but earlier this year he said Tesla may be able to sell the humanoid robots by the end of 2025. Nevertheless, experts disagree over whether Musk will be able to overcome many of the bots' kinks in just a few years. Dev Nag, CEO of QueryPal, a support automation company that uses artificial intelligence, said it will likely be five or more years before consumers see Optimus bots in their homes. "The robot still faces challenges in areas like walking steadily in uneven terrain, lasting all day on a single battery charge, and safely navigating around people and pets - a thornier problem than it might seem," Nag told The Post. "While Musk is known for his ambitious timelines, most experts believe Optimus will first prove itself in factories and warehouses before it's ready for household use," he said. That's despite dazzling capabilities the Optimus bots displayed on Thursday night. "How's everybody doing?" a bartending bot wearing a cowboy hat and apron called out to guests, with a hint of a Texas drawl. When one customer asked for a watermelon-flavored drink, the cow-bot double-checked the order: "A watermelon? 'Course you can!" Agnieszka Pilat, a robotics artist who works closely with Boston Dynamics and Agility Robotics, agreed that rolling out the robots within five years is "very optimistic." The bots will likely first be made available to billionaires and other high-status individuals within five years, but that it will take about a decade for a full retail rollout, according to Pilat. "Mass adoption will take time because they're very expensive. They won't be deployed. The software is complicated and the hardware is complicated," Pilat told The Post. "Where are the flying cars?" On the other hand, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives - who said he spoke with an Optimus robot for more than an hour at Thursday night's event in Hollywood - is nearly as optimistic as Musk. He expects the bots will be in households by 2027. The robots unveiled Thursday night were completely "non-programmatic" and on track to be "fully autonomous," Ives told The Post. "What Tesla unveiled last night was jaw-dropping," he said. "Last night, I believe, it was a historical event." The Optimus bots were far more advanced than techies had expected after Musk introduced his "Tesla bot" in 2021 - a man who danced on stage in a robot suit - and displayed a prototype in 2022 that needed to be held up by a stand. Shawn DuBravac, CEO at Avrio Institute, which helps companies anticipate technological shifts, said household robots eventually will become as commonplace as washing machines and dishwashers. But he agrees with other experts that there are many hurdles beyond the price point Musk has yet to overcome. "They can handle simple tasks now, but full autonomy for complex household chores is still some time away," DuBravac told The Post. "What makes other household robots, like washing machines and dishwashers, successful is their ability to handle discrete tasks nearly flawlessly every time." Optimus also can expect to face legal hurdles when it comes to safety standards, data privacy and liability in case of malfunction, DuBravac said. Musk's Tesla is under "a very bright spotlight," Ives admits. "If there's any incident with a robot, that will be highly scrutinized." Optimus could also face social and cultural challenges when it comes to a widespread rollout, experts said. But Ives argued that tech giants have hopped over those hurdles before. "In 2007, people viewed the concept of smartphones as off-the-rails," Ives told The Post. "Now, look where we are today."

Elon Musk's Robot Tricks Were Used on Soviets in the 1950s Too

An American tech fair in Moscow during the Cold War featured a robot vacuum secretly operated by remote control. Elon Musk was showered with praise on social media during his big robotaxi unveiling on Thursday, even if the Tesla CEO's Cybercab is still just a prototype that may never get released. But it was Musk's humanoid robots that arguably received the most attention in videos posted during the event, as Optimus bots were seen dancing, talking with guests, playing paper-rock-scissors, and even pouring drinks. There's just one problem: The robots weren't operating as autonomously as most people had initially assumed. The Optimus robots were under the control of unseen humans, according to one person who spoke with a Tesla engineer at the event, but Musk didn't tell people that directly. “This is not wholly AI. A human is remote assisting,†tech evangelist Robert Scoble tweeted, along with a video from the event at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank on Thursday night. Scoble was still clearly impressed with the robots. But it gave the entire spectacle a very different vibe when you know there are humans off in a room somewhere doing at least some of the work. We've had tele-operation of robots (sometimes called a Waldo) since at least the 1940s, though admittedly in a more primitive form. Walt Disney used teleoperation to achieve life-like robotics in the 1960s for his attractions at the World's Fair and Disneyland. The big difference between Musk and Disney is that Disney wasn't trying to use tele-ops to trick anyone. The entire purpose was to create a show, not unlike Musk's goal Thursday night. The billionaire did stage everything at a movie studio, after all. But by not disclosing up front that his robots were getting human assistance, more than a few people on social media said they felt deceived. Musk is far from the first person to use smoke and mirrors to make robots look like they're capable of amazing feats while actually being less than transparent about how the technology works. The Tesla CEO's constant hype of products that don't actually exist yet (remember the Optimus debut in 2021 that was just a human in a robot suit?) reminds me of RCA-Whirlpool's so-called Miracle Kitchen from the late 1950s. Especially because the kitchen display had a robot that was actually being remote controlled by a human in the next room, despite telling viewers it was working by itself. The Miracle Kitchen was the crown jewel of the 1959 fair in Russia held during a very brief attempt at friendlier relations between the U.S. and Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was a kind of cultural exchange, with the Soviets putting on a tech fair in New York while the Americans put on a show in Moscow. You may even remember learning about the "kitchen debate" between then-Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Yep, that was the kitchen. The American National Exhibition had everything from a fashion show to films about life in the U.S. But it was the kitchen that really impressed people, as it seemingly showed off advanced technologies, including a central computer with push-button controls and an autonomous robot that looked like a proto-Roomba. But the Americans only said it was autonomous. Someone has uploaded a 13-minute promotional film for the kitchen to YouTube, but a one-minute clip about the vacuum is below to give you an idea of what the Russians saw back in 1959. "What you see coming out of the wall is a self-propelled floor cleaner. It's completely self-contained and it can be directed to any part of the kitchen," the film's host says. "This floor cleaner is operated by a self-charging battery. It controls itself by sensing an electrical path in the floor," the host continues. "As it passes over the floor, it vacuums up loose particles. And if the floor needs washing, the floor cleaner will wash it with a rotary brush scrubbing action. It will follow up washing with a thorough rinsing." This incredible robot vacuum wasn't just going to get all the floor-cleaning done, it was going to do it without being told to return for charging. "And when the entire job is done, the floor cleaner returns to its location beneath the cabinet where it empties the waste and is automatically recharged to be ready for the next operation," the host claimed. In reality, the robot wasn't working independently at all. Back in 2015, I spoke with a man named Joe Maxwell, then in his 80s, who helped design the kitchen back in the 1950s. Maxwell was working for the design firm Sundberg-Ferar in Detroit and gave me some behind-the-scenes info about the kitchen that had never been written about before. “They had a two-way mirror with a person sitting behind it that could see the room,†Maxwell told me over the phone. “And they radio-controlled the vacuum cleaner and the dishwasher.†"They said it was sniffing a wire in the floor, which it could have been," Maxwell told me. "But it was easier just to have a person behind this mirror that could make all the things happenâ€"from opening the doors and lowering the shelves and all of those different things." Having someone just secretly sitting in the next room was much easier and less expensive than using advanced sensors. "It was easier to do that than to put in all of those sensors all over the place, and do what the push-button said to do. It was simpler just to have a person operating that stuff remotely," said Maxwell. "That was for expediency more than it was for lack of technology." Maxwell then paused to clarify. "But there was a lack of technology. We did not have anything near what we have today. We had computers, but they were big boxes." You can see why Musk's robot demonstration yesterday reminded me of this tech fair from the late 1950s. The goal of the Americans was to convince Soviets that U.S.-style capitalism was the superior system, delivering amazing consumer products that even included computers and advanced robotics. But it was all a show for propaganda purposes, assisted by the CIA and the Rand Corporation along with big business. Some investors called Thursday's Tesla event "underwhelming" given its lack of specifics and ridiculously long time-frame for delivery of the Cybercab and Optimus robot. But Musk often does this schtick of hyping up tech that doesn't exist yet. Then when people eventually come back to Earth and realize he hasn't delivered anything impressive he finds another bright shiny object to shake in front of Wall Street. Remember the hyper-fast Loop that Musk was going to bring to cities like Chicago and Las Vegas? It was supposed to feature autonomous 16-passenger vehicles gliding along at 150 miles per hour. The billionaire eventually delivered regular Teslas operated by human drivers going 35 miles per hour in a tunnel under Las Vegas.