Tesla showcased its Optimus humanoid robot in New York City's Times Square on October 27, 2025, where it distributed Halloween candy to passersby. The demonstration highlighted the robot's emerging public interactions amid ongoing questions about its autonomy. Meanwhile, Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood praised humanoid robots as the biggest opportunity in embodied AI.
On October 27, 2025, Tesla deployed two Optimus robots near the Nasdaq building in Times Square, Manhattan, for a Halloween-themed event. The robots, plugged into a power source, handed out small red and yellow bags of gummies to pedestrians. Video footage captured Optimus occasionally dropping the bags but retrieving them from the ground, as witnessed by CNBC's Rebecca Quick. This public appearance followed similar demonstrations, including Optimus distributing treats at Tesla's employee "Frunk or Treat" event and interacting at the "Tron: Ares" movie premiere earlier in October.
Tesla also displayed its Cybercab autonomous vehicle at the event, which lacks a steering wheel or pedals and remains in development. Questions persist about Optimus's level of autonomy; past events, such as the 2024 "We Robot" gathering where robots served as bartenders, involved human teleoperation, according to Morgan Stanley analysts. However, Tesla shifted its training in June from motion capture suits and VR headsets to vision-based learning using videos of workers performing tasks. During Tesla's third-quarter earnings call, CEO Elon Musk claimed the Optimus at the movie premiere operated independently: "Nobody was controlling it, it was just doing Kung Fu with Jared Leto."
Cathie Wood, speaking at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, identified humanoid robots as the largest embodied AI opportunity, surpassing robotaxis and healthcare applications. "I think the chaser is going to be humanoid robots," she told CNBC. "And I think that is going to be the biggest of all the embodied AI opportunities." Musk echoed optimism on the earnings call, predicting Optimus could end poverty, become an "amazing surgeon," and represent 80% of Tesla's value, potentially generating over $10 trillion in revenue. He called it "the infinite money glitch," with no limit to embodied AI. Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm noted seeing Optimus fold laundry in labs.
Optimus features cameras for environmental reading, AI from Tesla's self-driving systems, a 2.3 kWh battery, and 40 electromechanical joints. It can lift 5 kilograms per arm, carry 25 kilograms, and deadlift 75 kilograms. Musk envisions global demand for 10 to 20 billion units, with a third version assembling in 2026 to resemble a person in a robot suit. On October 28, Musk tweeted: "Great @Tesla_Optimus engineering & manufacturing review today! Imagine having your personal C-3PO & R2-D2 … Optimus will be even better." Despite a 37% quarterly profit drop, Musk emphasized AI and automation as Tesla's future.