There isn’t much information about Tesla’s Optimus robot on the company’s website besides a job listing for engineers who’d like to help build it. Because of that, most of what we know about Optimus is speculative at best, and the biggest question people have is whether the robot is truly autonomous or controlled by remote operators.

Well, we might have our answer.

At an event this past weekend in Miami called ‘Autonomy Visualized,’ Tesla showcased Optimus. In one video, the robot was seen standing behind a table of water, then appears to remove a non-existent headset from its head, immediately causing it to topple backwards.

There’s a man behind that robot, and we all know it. 

If there was any question that Optimus uses teleop for their robots. Here one clearly has a guy take the headset off and it falls over.

Absolutely hilarious though. pic.twitter.com/4gYVohjY00

— CIX (@cixliv) December 8, 2025