Tesla has put 2 Optimus robots to work on its factory floor

• Tesla says Optimus is working on its factory floor.

• The company said in an X post that two of the humanoid robots had been deployed in a factory.

• Elon Musk has called Optimus Tesla's most valuable product, but it's still got a long way to go.

It sounds like Optimus, Tesla's humanoid robot, may finally be helping to build the company's cars.

In a rundown on X of what the company has achieved since 2018 ahead of the shareholder vote on Elon Musk's multi-billion dollar pay package, Tesla said it had deployed two Optimus robots "performing tasks in the factory autonomously."

It is unclear which factory the robots are operating in or what tasks they are completing.

Business Insider contacted Tesla for confirmation but didn't immediately hear back.

In Tesla's most recent earnings call in April, Musk said Optimus would be able to perform factory roles by the end of the year, and could go on sale by the end of 2025.

Musk has made some grand predictions about Tesla's AI-powered humanoid, suggesting in the same earnings call that Optimus was more valuable than anything else Tesla is doing.

Musk told shareholders that once the "sentient humanoid robot" was a reality, there would be "no meaningful limit to the size of the economy."

Optimus has come a long way from a man in a robot suit, but still falls short of Musk's vision.

Tesla has released a series of videos showing the humanoid robot doing the squats, picking up an egg, and folding a shirt — although Musk later clarified that Optimus wasn't capable of doing the latter autonomously.

The billionaire faces competition in his mission to staff his factories with an army of automatons.

Tesla rival BMW signed a deal with robotics startup Figure in January that will see its robots deployed in the carmaker's South Carolina factory.

China's EV builders, which Elon Musk has identified as Tesla's greatest threat, are also experimenting with the technology.

Dongfeng Motors recently struck a deal with Chinese robotics firm Ubtech to deploy its robots on production lines. Nio has also piloted the use of Ubtech's "Walker S" humanoid robot.

Read the original article on Business Insider