Tesla Optimus Robot Hand Patent Design Abandoned: Paper Plan Fails Real-World Tests

Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot hand patent was recently published, but Elon Musk revealed the design has been abandoned. Musk responded on X platform that the rolling contact mechanism in the patent, intended for smooth finger movement, exposed defects in real tests and failed to meet the robot's reliability standards.

Robot hand design has long been a challenge for the Optimus project; the complex structure of human hands is hard to replicate with metal and silicon-based materials. Tesla's R&D speed is impressive—by the time the patent is published, related technologies have already been iterated. Optimus remains in dynamic development, with weekly improvements.