Tesla starts Optimus production, but deliveries reportedly slip to late 2027

Humanoid manufacturing advanced this week, with Tesla starting Optimus production at Fremont and Unitree's cumulative G1 output reportedly reaching 10,000–20,000 units. Production still does not equal deployment: Optimus deliveries reportedly slipped to late 2027, with robot hands remaining a problem.

Key developments

Optimus production starts amid delivery delay

Tesla began Optimus production at its Fremont factory while cutting its capital-spending forecast. Deliveries have reportedly been pushed to late 2027, with robot hands still presenting a problem.

Prospective Optimus customers face a wait extending well beyond the start of factory production.

Oct 22–25 · Technology Org · Tekedia · Electrek

Unitree G1 output reaches five figures

Unitree's cumulative G1 humanoid production reportedly reached 10,000–20,000 units. The figure measures output rather than confirmed customer deployments.

The reported volume points to manufacturing capacity ahead of demonstrated commercial adoption.

Oct 23 · digitimes

Agility expands NVIDIA collaboration

Agility Robotics expanded its collaboration with NVIDIA as it prepares Digit 5 for commercial scale.

The collaboration signals that Agility's next step is scaling Digit 5 beyond its current commercial footprint.

Oct 22 · Latest Press | Agility

Workers challenge prospective ICE sale

Boston Dynamics workers urged the company to cancel a robot dog sale sought by ICE. Whether the sale has closed remains unresolved in the supplied reports.

The prospective deployment faces resistance from the supplier's own workforce over its government customer.

Oct 23 · The Boston Globe · WBUR

Muscle-powered robots demonstrate varied movement

ETH Zurich researchers demonstrated tiny robots powered by lab-grown mouse muscle that jump, swim, walk and grasp. Their results show that movement depends on the interaction between muscle tissue and an artificial scaffold, not just muscle quantity.

Scaffold design offers a concrete way to improve movement in small biohybrid robots.

Oct 22 · Tech Xplore Robotics

Also this week

Humanoid competition

• Unitree unveiled H2-X, also called the Kung Fu Legend Guardian, with demonstrations described as including martial-arts moves, disarming attackers, rescue skills and lifting cars. South China Morning Post · TechRepublic · Global Times

• Toyota entered the humanoid robotics competition against Tesla and Chinese competitors. Financial Times

Control and training

• Researchers developed a method that keeps predictions of flexible robot-arm motion on track even when the arm moves faster than the model's training conditions. Tech Xplore Robotics

• Researchers described a wearable system that captures human activity data for robot training, highlighting the coordination of movement, posture and object contact in everyday humanoid tasks. Tech Xplore Robotics

Group demonstrations

• A group of 110 humanoid robots set a Guinness world record for synchronized dancing in China. Global Times

What to watch

• Watch for Optimus customer deliveries in late 2027, the reported revised delivery window, and whether the robot-hand problems are resolved.

• Watch for Digit 5's move to commercial scale following Agility's expanded NVIDIA collaboration; timing has not been announced.

• Watch for a decision on the robot dog sale sought by ICE following Boston Dynamics workers' request to cancel it.