'We're a car company, right?': Tesla's jibe as Elon Musk shares videos of Optmius robot dancing like humans

Tech billionaire Elon Musk knows how to dominate headlines. When he posts on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the world pays attention. Whether he's tweeting about space travel, artificial intelligence, or his turbulent relationship with Donald Trump, the billionaire behind rockets and electric cars has a knack for dominating online discourse. This time, it's about a dancing robot.

Musk flaunts Tesla robot

On his X account – now called “gorklon rust” – Musk posted a short clip of Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, executing a dance. The caption was minimal: just an emoji of a dancing man. Later, replying to his own post, Musk added a clarification: “This is real, real-time.” The clip, which featured Optimus shifting weight, rotating its limbs and mimicking rhythmic human movement, instantly went viral.



While many viewers expressed astonishment, others were skeptical. “Is this real or AI-created?” one X user asked in a reply. The question drew immediate attention.


Musk shared multiple videos of Optimus, Tesla's humanoid robot, dancing like humans. Musk shared videos of the robot dancing, showcasing its advanced capabilities in real-time movement and balance. Commenting on one such video, he wrote: “This is real real-time”. “Optimus will perform ballet perfectly,” the Tesla CEO wrote in a Twitter post.

"This is still very far from our final form," Musk said in another post on Twitter.


X’s integrated AI chatbot, Grok, offered its analysis. According to Grok, the clip aligned with Optimus’s known capabilities, citing past public demonstrations like the We,Robot event in October 2024 and internal updates released by Tesla as recently as April 2025.

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Tesla on Optimus dancing videos

In a playful post quoting a video of the Optimus robot dancing, Tesla's official Twitter account jokingly questioned whether the company is still primarily a car manufacturer, writing, “We're a car company, right?”

Since the debut of its first prototype in 2022, the Tesla Optimus robot has shown remarkable improvements in agility and expressiveness. This latest demonstration is part of Tesla’s broader push into AI and robotics, underscored by events like the “We, Robot” showcase, where Optimus has previously performed synchronized dances—highlighting a focus on both functionality and expressive movement. Elon Musk has stated that Optimus is expected to handle a variety of everyday tasks in the future, with limited production slated for 2025.

Tesla first introduced the concept of a humanoid robot in 2021 during AI Day. At the time, there was no prototype, and the event featured a human dressed as a robot dancing. Fast forward to this day, Tesla's Optimus has evolved significantly and can perform real-world tasks.

The first true glimpse of Optimus came in 2022, when Tesla debuted semi-functional prototypes at AI Day, where the robot demonstrated basic walking and arm movements.

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By 2023, Tesla's Optimus Gen 2 had advanced to handle more complex activities, such as sorting colored blocks, holding yoga poses, and even performing dance routines. The robot's hands were also upgraded to offer 11 degrees of movement, with future versions aiming for 22 degrees.

Elon Musk has described the Optimus robot as one of Tesla’s most significant innovations. Unlike traditional robots that operate based on pre-set instructions, Optimus is designed to learn from real-world experience and simulations, enabling it to act independently.

This capability positions Optimus as a breakthrough in human-robot collaboration, particularly in manufacturing. With applications across various industries, it could tap into a potential $25 trillion market and support sustainability efforts by taking on physically demanding, labor-intensive roles.