Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot is still dependent on human workers to assemble a key part of its anatomy, according to a report on the company's manufacturing challenges. Even in the V3 version of Optimus that Tesla is currently producing, the robot's hands and forearms contain more than 100 screws and other small components that must be put together manually by a worker. The V3 robots are lighter than earlier iterations and carry more cameras, but they do not yet include a sensing glove under development that would make touch sensors easier to replace without swapping out an entire hand, improving durability.
The manual assembly requirement highlights the gap between Tesla's public ambitions for Optimus and the robot's current capabilities. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has described Optimus as the company's biggest product of all time, yet the robot has faced delays for years. For now, the machines are being used internally for specific tasks in limited areas rather than in general roles, and they are not operated through remote teleoperation.
The company's rollout strategy also remains gradual. Tesla reportedly plans to lease the robots rather than sell them at first, and it intends to use training data gathered from those deployments to improve the machines. That approach depends on Tesla getting Optimus units out into the world in the first place, something the program has not yet achieved at scale.
The slower path for Tesla comes as the broader humanoid robotics sector shows signs of changing direction. Other developers have begun moving toward less lifelike designs for their robots. In addition, Chinese regulators reportedly started holding back IPO listings for humanoid robotics companies earlier in September.
For a US technology audience, the stakes extend beyond Tesla's factory floors. Optimus is central to Musk's effort to position Tesla as more than an electric vehicle maker, and any manufacturing bottleneck in the robot's hands and forearms affects how quickly the company can shift from internal trials to leased deployments. The sensing glove still in development is intended to address one durability issue, but until it arrives, each hand requires labor-intensive manual assembly.
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