Tesla Optimus Gen 3

What it's for

Optimus Gen 3 is Tesla's third-generation humanoid and the first around which the company has started building production lines. Before we describe applications, the state of knowledge needs an honest note: some of the parameters (173 cm, 57 kg, 28 degrees of freedom, 22 of them in the hand, a 20 kg payload, about 5 hours of operation) come from industry sites, not from Tesla press material, and sources differ on the unveiling itself: some say the model has not yet been officially revealed, others describe a showing in September 2026. We therefore treat the data as unconfirmed.

Tesla names its own factory as the first field of application. The hands with 22 degrees of freedom are meant to grasp small parts, not only large crates. Internal use in the group's plants is the only application Tesla actually announces today.

The second field is voice control: Musk confirmed on 25 June 2025 that Optimus supports native integration with xAI's Grok model. This allows the robot to be controlled by commands spoken to it, with no programmer's console. The third is the announced camera-only navigation, without LiDAR, and the new AI5 chip, meant to make it easier to carry experience over from autonomous cars to the robot.

On a longer horizon, according to analysts, a consumer version will appear; availability for private customers is estimated for 2028-2029. That ties in with Tesla's goal of a home robot, whose details we cover under Tesla Optimus.

What you cannot do with Gen 3 today: you cannot buy it, reserve it or rent it. If you need a humanoid for a hall, check Figure 03 or Agility Digit 5; introductions to the category are in humanoid robots and “Tesla Optimus: What We Actually Know (as of September 2026)”. Shop-floor applications: “Factories and manufacturing”.

Who it's for

Gen 3 is for you if you follow the humanoid market as an analyst, investor, journalist or decision-maker who needs to know whether Tesla will shift the balance of power in the industry. It also matters for companies planning humanoid deployments a few years out: by watching Tesla you can judge when prices will fall and whether cameras without LiDAR will become the standard.

It is not for you if: you need a robot to deploy this year or next, since there is no offer, price or delivery date and Tesla does not sell externally; you are looking for a machine for a Polish plant, since the robot is not, and for a long time will not be, available here; or you want certainty about the parameters, which are unconfirmed. A practical choice for a company can be found in “Humanoid Robots in Factories 2026” and in “How to Buy a Cobot Step by Step” if you are considering a cheaper alternative for simple tasks.

Deployments

The robot remains an internal Tesla factory project, with no purchase path for companies or private individuals. In August 2026 Tesla began assembling a production line in Fremont, but customers have not yet received a single unit. In the category, documented are the logistics pilots of Agility Digit 5 and the working fleet of Figure 03. Polish prospects are covered in “Humanoid Robots and the Polish Labor Market”.

Gen 3 compared with other humanoids: Figure 03: 35 DOF, 20 kg payload and the status of a working fleet; against Gen 3 it is a working robot rather than an announcement. Unitree G1 is a concept versus a finished product: on sale for about PLN 52,300 (≈ EUR 11,980 at NBP rate 4.3641 of 21 October 2026). Agility Digit 5 (22.7 kg payload) is specialized logistics versus a general-purpose announcement. Atlas: 56 DOF and a claimed 50 kg payload, two paths into industry. Fourier GR-2 is available on the enterprise market, with 53 DOF. For the home it is compared with 1X NEO (about PLN 77,524 (≈ EUR 17,760), pre-order), which has a concrete offer in place of an announcement. The choice depends on the goal: for a factory, Figure and Agility; for learning, Unitree; for the home, 1X.

Optimus has been in development since 2021. The first prototype (Tesla Optimus Gen 1) was shown at AI Day in September 2022, the second generation in December 2023 with a lighter build and better hands (Tesla Optimus Gen 2). In June 2025 Milan Kovac left the program, and Ashok Elluswamy became his successor. In April 2026 Musk said the Gen 3 presentation would come closer to the start of production, while assembly lines were being installed in Fremont and Gigafactory Texas; in August installation of the line in Fremont began, but with no deliveries to customers. In September 2026 supply-chain reports spoke of a target of about 15,000 units this year and a pace of about 1,000 units a week at the end of the month; this is data not confirmed by Tesla. Tesla also showed a V3 version with hands driven by 50 actuators (22 DOF) and a battery of about 2.3 kWh; a public demonstration of factory work was due in October 2026. We cover the thread itself in “Tesla Optimus: What We Actually Know (as of September 2026)”.