Tesla is producing several hundred Optimus humanoid robots a week, falling well short of its target of 20,000 weekly units, Ars Technica reported. Assembly bottlenecks continue to slow output, leaving workers to assemble the robot's hands manually.
Manufacturing issues emerged after Tesla converted production lines originally used for the Model S and Model X to build Optimus earlier this year. Fitting the robot together has proven difficult on the repurposed lines because Optimus parts are much smaller than automobile components and demand far higher alignment precision.
Workers building the current "V3" version of the robot must manually insert more than 100 screws and miniature parts into each hand and forearm. The V3 models are lighter and carry more cameras than earlier prototypes, but they still lack a sensing glove that remains in active development. That glove is intended to boost durability by letting technicians replace individual touch sensors without discarding the full hand assembly.
Chief executive Elon Musk has described Optimus as Tesla's potential "biggest product of all time," despite years of delays. For now, Tesla deploys the machines strictly for specific internal tasks within limited areas, running them without remote teleoperation or general utility. The automaker plans to lease the hardware initially instead of selling it, aiming to collect operational training data to refine the system before a broader commercial release.
Rival robotics teams have recently started shifting toward less lifelike physical forms for their machines. Outside the United States, Chinese regulatory authorities began holding back initial public offering applications for humanoid robotics companies earlier this month.
