Tesla building hundreds of Optimus robots weekly as hand issues persist

By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Oct 4, 2026, 16:20 UTC

As of early October 2026, Tesla is manufacturing Optimus humanoid robots at a rate described as hundreds of units per week, a production pace that marks a significant step beyond prototype and small-batch stages. At the same time, engineers have not resolved persistent problems with hand dexterity, meaning the robots still cannot perform the fine motor tasks that would make them broadly useful in factory or service settings. Tesla also released a lighthearted tease of a "Halloween Mode" software update, showing Optimus rising from a graveyard, a marketing gesture that sits alongside the more serious hardware news. Toyota separately announced robot deployments framed as large enough to rival Tesla's Optimus output, bringing an established automaker with deep manufacturing experience directly into the same conversation.

The hand dexterity problem matters because it is not a peripheral issue. Grasping, manipulating small objects, and applying variable pressure are foundational to almost every task that would justify deploying humanoid robots at scale in warehouses or assembly lines. High weekly production numbers mean little if the units cannot perform the work they are built for. Toyota's timing adds competitive pressure, because unlike a startup, Toyota brings decades of industrial robotics knowledge and existing factory infrastructure, which could allow faster iteration on exactly the kinds of mechanical problems Tesla is still working through.

With no published reactions yet from the Pro-AI, Anti-AI, or Middle Ground camps on this specific story, their likely positions can be sketched from general patterns. The Pro-AI camp would typically treat the production ramp as validation that humanoid robotics is crossing from science project to industrial reality, viewing the hand problem as a solvable engineering challenge on a predictable timeline. The Anti-AI and automation-skeptic camp would focus on the hand limitation as evidence that the technology is overhyped relative to its actual readiness, and would likely raise concerns about the labor displacement implications of two major manufacturers racing to scale output simultaneously. The Middle Ground camp would probably argue that both the optimism and the alarm are premature, pointing out that production volume and deployment utility are different metrics, and that the competitive dynamic between Tesla and Toyota could accelerate progress but also compress safety testing timelines.

The clearest near-term signal to watch is whether Tesla announces a hardware revision addressing the hand mechanism, and whether Toyota specifies the tasks and environments its deployed robots are handling, since those details would allow a more direct comparison of where each company actually stands on practical capability rather than unit counts.