The humanoid Optimus robot is now in the New York Tesla store

Optimus, Tesla's futuristic humanoid robot, has arrived at the New York Tesla showroom hoping to wow customers. While the final version is still years away, Tesla hopes the sleek-looking bot will bring customers into their stores. They hope the marketing gimmick would give their salespeople a better chance to pitch the cars to the American public.

Replicating the Recipe for Success From China

This move follows Tesla's success in China, where Optimus garnered immense interest at conferences and expos.

The Giga Laboratory display debuted in June in Chengdu, China, where it showcases its manufacturing processes. The display included automobiles, assembly robots, electric vehicle components. The star piece is the Model 3's body, which is suspended from the ceiling by cables as if it were being built right there.

The company's success in China has inspired ambitious plans to emulate that success in the US, where their sales are lagging behind.

China is the litmus test for Tesla. Tom Zhu, who was in charge of the company's operations in China, was appointed global head of automotive. Zhu reportedly has placed pressure on Tesla's North American retail division to match the success of the company's retail operation in China.

The Robot Is Not a Working Prototype and Is Not for Sale

Despite its awe-inspiring appearance, the showcased Optimus unit is not a fully functional prototype and is not available for purchase. The Optimus robot is, as one user puts it “basically a statue of a robot.” The AI is not fully developed beyond the sleek design.

The display unit is not capable of the same functions as those developed behind closed doors. In a video recently released, Tesla showcases Optimus as an aspirational humanoid bot that is now learning to perform tasks. It picks up small objects and slowly paces around in a straight line.

“It’s not doing parkour, but it is walking around,” said Elon Maks at the Tesla Investor Day in march.

The video is more aspirational than a presentation of what the robot can actually do. The video shows the bot learning fine motor skills - they showcase it as the droid cracking an egg - understanding and mapping the environment for better navigation,  learning how to do simple to more complex tasks. Elon Musk promises that the robot will be capable of performing unsafe, repetitive or boring tasks.

"I think essentially, in the future, physical work will be a choice. You can if you want to, but you won't need to. And, yeah, I think it's basically going to be fine. It's going to be good," said Musk

Outlandish Expectations for Selling Their Robots

Elon Musk, known for his over the top goals, made the claim that he hopes Tesla will sell more robots than cars in the future. In fact, he audaciously projected sales figures of 10 to 20 billion units. This is well beyond the current world population.