# What did Elon Musk promise about robots and when?

**Musk has promised a $20,000 to $30,000 general-purpose Optimus humanoid since 2021, with rising claims each year.** Since Tesla's 2021 AI Day, Musk has promised Optimus as a general-purpose humanoid that would cost $20,000 to $30,000 and become Tesla's biggest product ever. The public milestones are real and dated: a costume in 2021, a walking prototype in 2022, a Gen 2 reveal in 2023. At the 2024 We, Robot event the units were human-operated, not autonomous.

Last verified Oct 14, 2024. 5 sources.

## Short answer

Elon Musk's robot promises are specific, public, and dated, so the honest answer is a timeline rather than a single quote. Each entry below is attributed to Musk or Tesla and linked to a source that was checked.

It starts at Tesla's first AI Day on August 19, 2021, where Musk announced the Tesla Bot, later named Optimus, as a general-purpose humanoid to take on dangerous, repetitive, and boring work. There was no prototype; a performer in a costume stood in. A year later, at AI Day on September 30, 2022, a development prototype Musk called Bumble C walked on stage untethered for about a minute. In December 2023 Tesla revealed Optimus Gen 2, lighter and faster, with new hands shown handling an egg.

The most quoted promises are about price and scale. At the We, Robot event on October 10, 2024, Optimus units mingled with the crowd and served guests, Musk called Optimus the biggest product of any kind ever, and he said it would eventually cost between $20,000 and $30,000. That figure is a long-term, at-scale target, not a price you can pay today.

The same event carries the honest caveat. Press reporting, first by Bloomberg, found the Optimus units at We, Robot were remotely operated by humans for their movement and speech, and one robot said it was assisted by a human and not yet fully autonomous. So the promise of an autonomous, affordable humanoid is real and repeated, and the public demonstrations show progress, but the headline autonomy has not been shown unassisted. Everything here is dated and attributed so you can weigh the promise against what was actually demonstrated.

## The Optimus promise timeline

Each entry is a real, dated statement by Musk or Tesla, or a press report about the 2024 demonstration, attributed to its claimant and linked to a checked source. None is a DEPLOY-verified capability.

| Date | What Musk promised or showed | Kind | Who (attributed) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Aug 19, 2021 | Tesla announced a humanoid robot, the Tesla Bot, with no working prototype. At Tesla's first AI Day, Musk introduced the Tesla Bot (later Optimus) as a general-purpose humanoid meant to take on dangerous, repetitive, and boring tasks, and said a prototype would follow the next year. Tesla had no robot to show, so a person in a costume danced on stage. | Announcement | Elon Musk at Tesla AI Day, reported by Fox Business | [Fox Business](https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/tesla-ai-day-robot) (2021-08-20) |
| Sep 30, 2022 | A prototype, nicknamed Bumble C, walked on stage untethered. At the second AI Day, a development prototype Musk called Bumble C walked on stage without a crane or cables for the first time, waved, and gestured for about a minute. Musk said it would evolve into Optimus and that the robot could do more than was shown. | Prototype demo | Elon Musk at Tesla AI Day, reported by TechCrunch | [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/30/teslas-robot-is-a-real-robot-now-not-just-a-guy-in-a-suit) (2022-09-30) |
| Dec 12, 2023 | Tesla revealed Optimus Gen 2, a faster, lighter version with new hands. Tesla published a video unveiling Optimus Gen 2, with all Tesla-designed actuators and sensors, roughly 10 kg lighter, walking about 30 percent faster, and new hands with tactile sensing shown handling an egg. Tesla said it planned to use the robot in its own factories before selling it. | Product reveal | Tesla (Optimus Gen 2 reveal), reported by Electrek | [Electrek](https://electrek.co/2023/12/12/tesla-unveils-optimus-gen-2-next-generation-humanoid-robot/) (2023-12-12) |
| Oct 10, 2024 | At the We, Robot event, Musk said Optimus would eventually cost $20,000 to $30,000. At Tesla's We, Robot event, Optimus units mingled with the crowd and served guests. Musk called Optimus the biggest product ever, described it doing household chores, and said it would eventually cost $20,000 to $30,000, a long-term at-scale target rather than a shipping price. | Price target | Elon Musk at Tesla's We, Robot event, reported by Entrepreneur | [Entrepreneur](https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/elon-musk-reveals-tesla-optimus-robots-remotely-controlled/481252) (2024-10-14) |
| Oct 14, 2024 (as reported) | The Optimus units at that event were operated by humans, not autonomous. Press reporting, first by Bloomberg, found the Optimus robots at We, Robot were remotely controlled by human operators for their movement and speech. One robot told an attendee it was assisted by a human and not yet fully autonomous. The demonstration showed the promise, not a verified autonomous capability. | Reported caveat | Reported by Bloomberg and TechSpot | [TechSpot](https://www.techspot.com/news/105119-tesla-optimus-robots-revealed-human-controlled-robot-event.html) (2024-10-14) |

## How we know this

- [Fox Business](https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/tesla-ai-day-robot) (2021-08-20)
- [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/30/teslas-robot-is-a-real-robot-now-not-just-a-guy-in-a-suit) (2022-09-30)
- [Electrek](https://electrek.co/2023/12/12/tesla-unveils-optimus-gen-2-next-generation-humanoid-robot/) (2023-12-12)
- [Entrepreneur](https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/elon-musk-reveals-tesla-optimus-robots-remotely-controlled/481252) (2024-10-14)
- [TechSpot](https://www.techspot.com/news/105119-tesla-optimus-robots-revealed-human-controlled-robot-event.html) (2024-10-14)

## Common questions

### When did Elon Musk first announce a robot?

Musk first announced Tesla's humanoid robot at the company's AI Day on August 19, 2021. He called it the Tesla Bot, later renamed Optimus, and described it as a general-purpose humanoid to handle dangerous, repetitive, and boring tasks. Tesla had no working prototype at that event, so a person in a robot costume performed on stage, and Musk said a prototype would come the following year.

### How much did Musk say the Tesla robot would cost?

At the We, Robot event on October 10, 2024, Musk said Optimus would eventually cost between $20,000 and $30,000. He framed it as a long-term, at-scale price expectation rather than what an early unit would sell for, and Tesla has not published an official consumer price. So the $20,000 to $30,000 figure is a stated target attributed to Musk, not a verified sale price.

### Did Tesla show a real working Optimus robot?

Yes, over several years. A development prototype called Bumble C walked on stage untethered at AI Day on September 30, 2022, and in December 2023 Tesla revealed Optimus Gen 2, a lighter and faster version with new hands. Those are real demonstrations. But at the 2024 We, Robot event, press reporting found the Optimus units were remotely operated by humans rather than acting autonomously.

### Were the Optimus robots at the 2024 event autonomous?

No. Press reporting, first by Bloomberg, found the Optimus units at the We, Robot event on October 10, 2024, were remotely controlled by human operators for their movement and speech. One robot told an attendee it was assisted by a human and not yet fully autonomous. The event demonstrated the promise and the hardware, but the autonomy Musk describes was not shown unassisted.

### Has Tesla delivered on Musk's robot promises?

Partly. The hardware milestones are real and dated: an announcement in 2021, a walking prototype in 2022, a Gen 2 reveal in 2023, and units on stage in 2024. What remains a promise rather than a verified capability is the core of the pitch: an autonomous, general-purpose humanoid at $20,000 to $30,000 that you can buy. DEPLOY tracks each claim as dated and attributed, and records a capability as verified only when it is demonstrated unassisted.

## Keep reading

- [Can a robot feel pain?](/can-a-robot-feel-pain.md): Capabilities & sentience
- [Which robots can do a backflip?](/which-robots-can-do-a-backflip.md): Capabilities & sentience
- [What can robots actually do today?](/what-can-robots-actually-do-today.md): Capabilities & sentience
- [Can humanoid robots cook?](/can-humanoid-robots-cook.md): Capabilities & sentience
- [All verified answers](/answers.md): Every standing question DEPLOY tracks.
- [What is Elon Musk's robot?](/what-is-elon-musks-robot.md): Optimus explained: what it is, and what is verified versus claimed.

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