There was a bit of controversy about Optimus not being as advertised at Tesla’s recent event. The company has posted a video that shows how these robots are indeed very good at autonomously navigating unseen spaces. Optimus uses neural nets to avoid obstacles. Multiple Optimus robots combine to gain a shared understanding of their surroundings. They can locate and navigate to the nearest charging station. These bots have a rear camera to dock with precision.

STAR1 is a fascinating humanoid robot measuring 5.6 feet tall, weighing 143 pounds. It has a max speed of 8 miles per hour. In the latest experiment, the good folks at Robot Era tested two of these robots in the Gobi Desert in northwestern China. One of them has a pair of sneakers on while the other was bare-footed.