By Anita Hamilton
Tesla's humanoid robot is finally here -- if you downsize expectations just a bit. It's a 7-inch-tall toy, not the life-size bot that CEO Elon Musk started talking about years ago.
The Tesla Bot Action Figure went on sale Friday on the EV maker's website. The $40 toy, which comes with a charging stand and a mallet-like "CyberHammer," was an instant hit.
"Your mini autonomous assistant and humanoid friend," reads the product description. "The Tesla Bot Action Figure is a 1:10-scale collectible and playable figurine precision engineered with over 40 individual parts and 20 points of articulation to look -- and move -- like our Gen 2 humanoid robot."
Musk has said the life-size Tesla Bot, also known as Optimus, will perform both mundane and dangerous tasks, and the toy's "Cyberhammer" helps get that point across.
But like all hot holiday gifts, actually getting ahold of a Tesla Bot Action Figure could be tough. The toy sold out immediately.
Since then, several eBay ads have popped up offering the toy for $1,000 or more. One ad notes the toy "will ship once received from Tesla." You can also sign up for an alert on the Tesla site once the toys are back in stock.
Musk first revealed his plan for a humanoid robot back in 2021 using a person dressed in a robot suit dancing onstage. While actual, life-size bots appeared at the Tesla robotaxi event in October, several videos posted online show the bots admitting they weren't yet fully autonomous.
First promised in 2023, the Tesla Bot is now expected to go on sale in 2026, Musk wrote on X in July. He has called Optimus one of the company's most important products and key to his vision of Tesla solving autonomy.
Musk has said that long-term, the Bots will sell for between $20,000 to $30,000 once they reach scale, making the $40 toy version a relative bargain.
Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu wrote in a September note he expects the company to sell 1.5 million of the life-size bots by 2035.
Write to Anita Hamilton at anita.hamilton@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 18, 2024 16:24 ET (21:24 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments