Tesla

In a new promotional video, Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot takes on a new role: explaining shareholder voting procedures. The video showcases the robot in diverse settings and provides a glimpse of an updated, bronze-accented design with potentially revised hands.

A new video shows Tesla's humanoid robot sparring with a human, demonstrating surprising speed and fluidity. The demonstration was followed by a key strategic comment from Optimus lead Ashok Elluswamy, who highlighted the plan to unify the AI models for Optimus and Tesla's self-driving cars.

Ashish Kumar, the lead for Tesla's Optimus AI team, has announced his departure. The move marks another significant change for the high-stakes humanoid robot program, which saw its VP of Engineering leave just three months ago.

Tesla is suing former Optimus engineer Zhongjie “Jay” Li and his startup Proception Inc., alleging the theft of trade secrets related to the humanoid robot's advanced hand technology. The lawsuit, filed June 11, 2025, claims Li downloaded confidential files before founding a company that quickly developed similar robotic hands. This development occurs amidst recent leadership changes in Tesla's Optimus program.

Following the departure of Milan Kovac, veteran AI software lead Ashok Elluswamy is reportedly taking the helm of Tesla's Optimus project. We look at the background of the man now tasked with realizing one of Elon Musk's most ambitious goals: deploying humanoid robots at scale.