Overview
- At Tesla’s “Autonomy Visualized” event in Miami over the weekend, an Optimus unit toppled during a public demonstration.
- The incident followed a sequence in which the robot handed out water, posed for photos, and danced before dropping items and falling backward.
- Footage shows both hands shooting to the face in a motion resembling taking off a VR headset, a gesture observers say points to remote control.
- Electrek and Teslarati reported the fall as likely tied to a teleoperator action, noting a Reddit-posted video and Teslarati’s own shared clip as primary evidence.
- Tesla has not offered an explanation, and the episode has renewed scrutiny of autonomy claims after Elon Musk previously said some Optimus demos were AI-driven rather than tele-operated.