Humanoid robots have long been a punchline, from clumsy factory demos to viral clips of machines tripping over cables. Tesla’s Optimus project arrived in that context, easy to mock and easier to ...

I keep hearing the same question whenever the Tesla Bot shows up in my feed: is Elon Musk really trying to build a friendly household helper, or is something much bigger going on behind the scenes?

For Elon Musk, the future of Tesla isn't its global fleet of electric vehicles. It's Optimus, the humanoid robot the company is developing to assist humans with everyday tasks. "~80% of Tesla's value ...