Sources on the ground let me know about some of the Optimus humanoid robots roaming around the party during Tesla's "We, Robot" event last week, which ran very late in coverage by TechCrunch:. Most, if not all, of those who attended the affair are Tesla investors and fans. Thus, it did not surprise me when the messages I received along with the videos included glowing comments about how advanced the bots were. I posed the question to one investor, who sent me a video of an Optimus doing different voices on command, if he believed it was remote-controlled or if, incredible as it seemed, it was powered by Grok, the AI chatbot from Elon Musk's xAI.

He said that in fact, he believed that it was Grok that was allowing the bot to converse with him. Did he ever ask the bot how it was able to talk to him? No, he said. He was too blown away. That appears to have been the point for Tesla – to inspire awe in a vision of the future. Others, including myself, were not as dazzled by what seems to have been sleight-of-hand at an event designed to engender enthusiasm among investors and fans.

According to news reports by Bloomberg and The Verge, among a few others, the bots were controlled remotely by humans-a conclusion this easy to arrive at since, naturally, they all had different voices and their responses as well as hand gestures were prompt and synchronized.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas also noted in a report that the bots "relied on tele-ops (human intervention).".

By sources familiar with the reporting, although Optimus prototypes were able to walk on their own and not require human help due to AI, much of the interaction between them and the attendees at the "We, Robot" event was controlled remotely by employees.

In one video shot at the event, an Optimus bartender is quoted as saying that it was "being assisted by a human.".

It raises questions, too, over the capability of the technology, since humans control its bots, and whether they will be ready to go to market at a price tag of around $20,000 to $30,000 each anytime soon.

You can imagine by the way we started with a man in a robot suit and then we took off dramatically every year," said Musk at his speech last week. "So if you extrapolate this you are really going to have something spectacular, something that anyone could own so you can have your own personal R2-D2 [or] C-3PO.".

"What can it do? It'll be able to do anything you want," the executive continued. "It can be a teacher, babysit your kids. It can walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries, just be your friend, serve drinks. Whatever you can think of, it will do."

Many investors still didn't appear to be convinced by Tesla's song and dance – literally, as the bots performed a choreographed dance. Tesla's stock took an 11% hit Friday after the event; however, that probably was a reaction also to Musk's refusal to give some insights into near-term revenue strategy for the Robotaxi as well as specific technological updates to FSD, the automaker's advanced driver assistance system.

Some, though, are unmoved by that consideration, as human hands are operating the bots behind the scenes.

Analyst George Gianarikas at Canaccord Genuity penned "So What!" in a note to clients Monday.

"The dexterity on display, as well as the developmental strides those robots made, was off the charts," said one analyst. "And, as Mr. Musk has noted often enough, the robotics industry today is not nearly a well-developed supply chain. That means that Tesla, with its internal manufacturing acumen, battery expertise, motor design know-how, electronics skills, and mechanical engineering resources has the potential to create a vertically integrated robotics behemoth over the long term."