TL;DR: Tesla deployed its Optimus humanoid to the Boston Marathon, where it stuck to PR duties—taking selfies and greeting runners rather than joining the race.
You probably didn’t expect a metallic cheerleader at this year’s Boston Marathon. But Tesla decided to change things up.
Instead of hitting the pavement, the Optimus humanoid robot spent the day on heavy PR duty. It greeted exhausted runners. It posed for endless selfies. And honestly, it did a pretty solid job of just standing there looking futuristic.
Look, we all know Optimus isn’t running a sub-four-minute mile anytime soon. The balancing acts are getting better, but we’re still a long way from a robot crossing the finish line. Still, bringing it out to a massive public event is a brilliant flex. It gets people used to seeing these machines in the wild, interacting with actual humans instead of factory workers.
The real question? How long until we see a dedicated robot division at the starting line.