Tesla Optimus Robot Heads to Times Square to Hand Out Candy

Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus made a surprise appearance in New York City’s Times Square, where it handed out candy outside the Nasdaq building. The demonstration paired Optimus with the Cybercab, Tesla’s forthcoming fully autonomous vehicle, as part of a showcase highlighting the company’s future technologies. Videos captured Optimus—plugged in through cables on its shoulders—handing out red and yellow bags of gummies, occasionally dropping a few but successfully picking them back up.

Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm, speaking nearby, noted that Optimus is already capable of tasks like folding laundry, a detail echoed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has said the robot could eventually perform surgeries. Though it’s unclear whether the Times Square demonstration was autonomous or tele-operated, past Optimus events, including Tesla’s “Frunk or Treat” employee celebration and a “We Robot” bartender demo, have involved some degree of human control. Musk has called Optimus central to Tesla’s future, predicting it could one day account for 80% of the company’s value and generate trillions in revenue, describing it as “the infinite money glitch.”