Neither robot is for sale to consumers. Figure 03 is working in commercial pilots, including BMW’s Spartanburg plant, and Figure’s CEO has floated a home lease of $400 to $600 a month without offering a way to sign up. Tesla’s Optimus has not had its V3 reveal, production at the Fremont factory is described as anticipated later this year, and the first units are meant for Tesla’s own use. If you want a humanoid robot in your home in 2026, nobody can sell you one.
The topic sheet pairs Optimus with Figure 02. That robot has been replaced. Figure 03 launched in October 2025 and took over from Figure 02 at BMW in 2026. This article compares the two companies as they stand now, separates company claims from independent confirmation, and gives a realistic view of when either robot could reach a home. It is not investment advice.
Why the Comparison Changed
Figure 02 finished its BMW deployment in 2025. The Robot Report reported on June 29, 2026 that the 11-month run supported production of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles, with the robot inserting sheet-metal parts for welding in the body shop. BMW is now deploying Figure 03 at the same Spartanburg, South Carolina plant.
Tesla’s story moved the other way. Optimus V3, also called Gen 3, was expected to be revealed in the first quarter of 2026. On Tesla’s April 22 earnings call, Electrek reported, the reveal moved to “probably middle of this year.” A tracker published in September 2026 by The Robotic Life found that no reveal had occurred by mid-September. Check Tesla’s announcements before relying on this, since a reveal could happen at any time.
Tesla Optimus: Where Things Stand
Reveal Delays and Missed Targets
Tesla has a record of missing Optimus dates. Electrek’s July 2, 2026 article notes that early in 2025 Elon Musk predicted about 10,000 robots would be built that year, with about 1,000 doing productive work by year-end. Neither happened. According to The Robotic Life, Musk said in January 2026 that the robots were not being deployed materially in Tesla factories. Electrek also reported that only several hundred units were deployed for learning purposes.
On the April call, Tesla said it was delaying the reveal partly because rivals “do a frame-by-frame analysis” of its releases and copy them, as quoted by Electrek.
The Fremont Conversion
Tesla ended Model S and X production at Fremont in early May 2026 and began converting those lines for Optimus, with production targeted for late July or August, Electrek reported. Tesla’s Q2 2026 shareholder update, dated July 22, uses softer language. It says construction began after the Model S and X lines were decommissioned, with production “anticipated later this year.” It adds that initial builds will be used internally for what Tesla calls the Optimus Academy, which collects training data. A second line is under construction at Gigafactory Texas. Electrek said that second factory is aimed at higher-volume Gen 4 variants, with production around summer 2027.
Production Numbers
The numbers circulating are not consistent. Electrek’s July 2 piece recaps targets of 50,000 to 100,000 units in 2026 and a one-million-unit annual run rate at Fremont by year-end. On the April call, though, Electrek reported that Musk declined to give 2026 production targets, saying output would move as fast as the slowest part among about 10,000 unique components. Tesla’s Q2 update lists installed capacity but no unit targets. On July 2, Musk wrote that production would be “extremely slow at first, as everything is new,” and “not like making a car.”
Treat the larger numbers as aspirations. Tesla’s own latest document does not commit to them.
Price and Customers
Tesla has set no official price. The Robotic Life describes the often-cited $20,000 to $30,000 range as aspirational. No outside commercial customers or orders had been announced as of its September tracker, and early units are reserved for internal use. Tesla’s Q2 update gave no timing for external sales.
What Gen 3 Changes
The Robotic Life reports the main change is the hand. The design moves actuators into the forearm with a tendon-driven system and raises degrees of freedom from 11 to 22. The same source calls dexterous hands the hardest problem in humanoid robotics. Since Tesla has not shown V3 publicly, these details come from reporting and not an official spec sheet.
Figure 03: Where Things Stand
Specifications
Figure introduced Figure 03 on October 9, 2025. RoboZaps, summarizing Figure’s product page, lists a height of 5 feet 8 inches, a weight of 61 kilograms, a 20-kilogram payload, a 2.3 kilowatt-hour battery built into the torso, about 5 hours of runtime, and 2-kilowatt wireless charging through the feet. Figure has not published the hand’s degrees of freedom. Forbes reported a 9 percent weight reduction from Figure 02. These are company figures. RoboZaps points out that all demonstration videos come from Figure and that no independent validation of the robot’s autonomy exists yet.
Commercial Deployments
At BMW, The Robot Report says Figure 03 will handle component sequencing in logistics, picking unsorted parts from containers and organizing them into trolleys for assembly delivery. The new model adds soft components for safety, wireless charging, speech-to-speech audio, and hands with tactile sensors and palm cameras. RoboZaps also lists Catalyst Brands at a Reno distribution center as a customer. BMW’s report did not say how many robots it is deploying.
The BMW result is the strongest public evidence either company has. It is a named customer, a named plant, and a measured result from the previous model, reported by an industry publication using Figure’s CEO as a source. It is also a single task in a controlled environment.
Production Scale
RoboZaps reports that Figure’s BotQ factory has capacity for up to 12,000 robots a year, with a goal of 100,000 over four years, and that production reached 60 to 70 robots a week in May 2026. It also says 350 or more units had been allocated to research and partnerships, none to consumers. BigGo Finance noted that Figure’s own production chart had an unlabeled axis, so the figures cannot be verified from the company’s data. Outside estimates it cited, which derive from outlets like Forbes, put output near 60 units in February, 120 in March, and 240 in April. BigGo adds that China’s Agibot reportedly shipped about 5,000 units in three months, which would put Figure well behind.
The Funding Picture
Forbes reported that Figure reached a $39 billion post-money valuation in September 2025, following a Series C of more than $1 billion, with investors including Nvidia, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Samsung. A valuation reflects investor expectations and not product readiness.
Home Use
On May 1, 2026, Figure CEO Brett Adcock described a lease of $400 to $600 a month for a household robot, according to Humanoids Daily. BigGo Finance reported he put it at roughly $600 a month in a post on Threads. RoboZaps found no price list, no pre-order, and no waitlist for Figure 03 as of July 2026, and said the autonomy bar Adcock set for homes, handling most household tasks all day, was not met.
Price reporting conflicts. Forbes wrote in March 2026 that the company prices Figure 03 at $24,760, while RoboZaps says the widely cited $20,000 figure traces to no source on Figure’s website. No official Figure price list turned up in the sources reviewed, so the safest reading is that Figure has not set a public price.
What These Robots Can Do Right Now
The public evidence is narrower than the demonstration videos suggest. The documented work is logistics and factory tasks. Figure 03 at BMW will pick unsorted parts from containers and place them into sequencing trolleys, and Figure 02 spent 11 months inserting sheet-metal parts for welding. Forbes noted that Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff demonstrated the robot sorting parcels in a warehouse, and that on March 25, 2026 Figure 03 walked beside the First Lady through the White House Cross Hall and gave opening remarks in 11 languages. Adcock claimed full autonomy for that appearance, and Forbes reported the claim without independent confirmation.
On the software side, RoboZaps says Figure introduced Helix 02 in January 2026, a single neural network that controls the full body from camera input to motor commands and replaced more than 100,000 lines of hand-written C++. That is Figure’s own description. Adcock told Humanoids Daily that a “Never Fall” protocol lets a robot limp to a maintenance bay on its own, which matters for round-the-clock operation.
Tesla’s documented use is training. Its Q2 update says early Fremont builds will go to the Optimus Academy for data collection and feature development. Nobody outside Tesla has seen an Optimus perform paid work.
Tesla Optimus vs Figure 03 Side by Side
On availability, Figure is ahead. It has paying commercial users, a named factory deployment, and a published specification sheet. Tesla has a robot it has not shown in its latest form, no outside customers, and a factory it is still converting.
On scale, the evidence is thin in both cases. Tesla has a record of unmet targets and says output will start slowly. Figure’s production figures cannot be checked from its own charts.
On price, neither has set a purchase price. Figure has floated a lease, and Tesla has an aspirational range.
On independent verification, Figure’s BMW result is the most concrete outside confirmation either company has, although it covers one task in one plant. Most of Figure’s other claims come from Figure.
When Could a Humanoid Robot Reach a Home?
The honest answer is not in 2026. Figure’s own CEO set a bar for home use that, per RoboZaps, had not been met as of July. Forbes cited reports of a late 2026 consumer launch, without detail. Tesla’s Giga Texas robot factory is aimed at summer 2027, and its first units are for internal training data.
For buyers, the practical signal to watch is a published price, an ordering page, and a delivery date. At the time of writing, neither company has all three.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you buy a Tesla Optimus robot?
No. Tesla has set no official price, announced no outside customers, and said initial builds will be used internally. The V3 reveal had not happened as of mid-September 2026, according to The Robotic Life. Tesla’s Q2 update says production is anticipated later this year.
Can you buy a Figure 03?
Not as a consumer. RoboZaps found no price list, pre-order, or waitlist as of July 2026. Figure works with commercial customers, including BMW at its Spartanburg plant, and its CEO has floated a home lease of $400 to $600 a month without offering one.
How much will Optimus cost?
Tesla has not said. A range of $20,000 to $30,000 is often cited, but The Robotic Life describes it as aspirational. Tesla’s financial documents do not list a price.
What happened to Figure 02?
Figure 02 completed an 11-month deployment at BMW in 2025, supporting more than 30,000 X3 vehicles, according to The Robot Report. BMW is now deploying Figure 03 at the same plant.
References and Sources
The Robot Report, “BMW Group deploys Figure 03 humanoid after tests with previous version”: https://www.therobotreport.com/bmw-group-deploys-figure-03-humanoid-after-tests-previous-version/
Electrek, “Tesla pushes Optimus V3 reveal later this year, again”: https://electrek.co/2026/04/22/tesla-optimus-production-fremont-model-sx-line/
Electrek, “Elon Musk shuts down ‘4D chess’ theory on Tesla Optimus production”: https://electrek.co/2026/07/02/musk-shuts-down-optimus-4d-chess-theory/
Tesla Investor Relations, “Q2 2026 Update”: https://assets-ir.tesla.com/tesla-contents/IR/TSLA-Q2-2026-Update.pdf
The Robotic Life, “Tesla Optimus Gen 3: Promised vs. Delivered (Sept 2026 Scorecard)”: https://theroboticlife.com/robot-of-the-week-tesla-optimus-gen-3/
RoboZaps, “Figure 03 Review 2026: Price, Release Date and Is It For Sale?”: https://blog.robozaps.com/b/figure-03-review
Forbes, “Figure AI Robot Appears With Melania Trump Amid Rollout”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2026/03/25/what-to-know-about-the-ai-robot-and-its-billionaire-owner-that-appeared-with-melania-trump/
Humanoids Daily, “Inside the Campus: Figure’s Plan for 24/7 Autonomy and Leasable Home Robots”: https://www.humanoidsdaily.com/news/inside-the-campus-figure-s-plan-for-24-7-autonomy-and-leasable-home-robots
BigGo Finance, “Humanoid Robots Entering Homes? Figure Floats $600 Monthly Subscription, But Production Data Conceals a Catch”: https://finance.biggo.com/news/F7mY_J0B2jrwCtglGH2K
About The Author
