Tesla's Optimus Humanoid Robot Demonstrates Progress

Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot has demonstrated significant advancements, as showcased in a recent video released on December 2, 2025, by the official Tesla Optimus account on X. The video features Optimus jogging smoothly across Tesla's lab, exhibiting a natural gait with minimal wobble, a marked improvement from earlier iterations.

The account proudly announced, 'Just set a new PR in the lab,' highlighting the robot's enhanced stability. Notably, the video also showcases Optimus's autonomous charging capabilities; it can detect low power levels, navigate to the nearest charging station, and back into the charger using only its rear-facing cameras.

This scene of multiple robots quietly powering themselves adds a sci-fi ambiance to Tesla's operations, indicating that the future is rapidly becoming a reality. This milestone follows the robot's presentation at NeurIPS 2025 in San Diego, where the Optimus V2.5 model was demonstrated.

Attendees were particularly impressed by its humanlike hands, which feature 22 degrees of freedom, allowing for fluid finger movements, such as flexing and waving. Elon Musk has indicated that the Optimus V2.5 design will not remain the flagship for long, with the Optimus V3 model expected to debut in early 2026.

Musk described the forthcoming version as 'so real that you'll need to poke it to believe it's an actual robot.' On the production front, Tesla is rapidly scaling its humanoid robot program. Construction of a massive new manufacturing facility is underway at Gigafactory Texas, aimed at producing up to 10 million units of Optimus annually.

Pilot production has already commenced at the Fremont Factory, with Tesla targeting an annual output of one million robots by late 2026. The company has already deployed several Optimus units across its factories and engineering offices, performing basic tasks, with plans for more complex processes starting next year.

Tesla aims for a manufacturing cost of around $20,000 per robot at scale, with Musk betting heavily on Optimus as a core pillar of Tesla's future. He has even suggested that it could contribute as much as 80 percent of the company's total valuation.

Furthermore, Tesla is actively enhancing its talent pool, recently hiring a machine learning and robotics engineer from Apple to bolster its Optimus AI team. As running demos, autonomous charging, and extensive factory construction efforts continue, Optimus is transitioning from a research and development concept to a product Tesla is determined to mass-produce.