News
Tesla vs China on the final frontier in humanoid robot development
Chinese companies are going all-in on dexterous robot hands, heating up the competition for the Tesla Optimus bot.

China’s robot industry is heating up as companies prepare to conquer the final frontier in humanoid robot development. The Tesla Optimus bot team is working to do the same on the other side of the world. Which humanoid robot developer will come out on top?
Dexterous hands are said to be the last frontier in humanoid robot development. Robotic hands have become essential to humanoid robots taking on human workloads. As such, companies are increasingly focused on developing the most dexterous robotic hands.
Linkerbot Technology recently debuted its Linker hand for humanoid robots. The Chinese company claims its Linker Hand has the highest dexterity on the market.
“Our Linker Hand research version has the world’s highest 42 degrees of freedom (DOF), surpassing the 26 of the world’s leading product, Shadow Hand. Each finger could independently have up to 7 DOF, which means it has surpassed human fingers. It is also equipped with an advanced multi-sensor system, including cameras and electronic skin,” said Gao Gang, Deputy General Manager of Linkerbot Technology at the 27th China Beijing International High-tech Expo (CHITEC).
Last year, Elon Musk shared that Tesla’s new Optimus hand would have 22 degrees of freedom. In May 2024, Tesla released a new video of Optimus in the company’s facilities. The Tesla video featured Optimus performing several tasks in a factory, including those requiring precision. In a comment about the Optimus video, NVIDIA Sr. Research Manager & Lead of Embodied AI (GEAR Lab), Jim Fan, noted that Optimus’ hands are among the best in the industry.
It would be interesting to see Tesla’s improvements on the Optimus hand. The video from last year already showed Optimus handling delicate tasks, which would improve its functionality in factories. Linkbot expects to showcase the capabilities of its own dexterous robotic hand in the future as well.
“In years to come, Linkerbot aims to deploy 1 million humanoid robots equipped with dexterous hands in the real world to collect data. Including, but not limited to, playing with a Rubik’s Cube. Putting on makeup is included in our fine motor standardized test scenarios,” noted Gao.
Linkerbot isn’t the only Chinese company developing humanoid robots. A few companies in China are creating robots that can work in factories.
Tesla Optimus is expected to perform menial, monotonous, repetitive tasks that could harm humans. PaXini Tech, another Chinese company, is also planning to release a humanoid robot to perform work tasks. Similar to Linkbot, PaXini Tech emphasized its humanoid robot’s dexterous hands and its capabilities.
“Our DexH13 GEN2 is the first four-finger bionic dexterous hand in the domestic market that integrates multi-dimensional tactile + AI visual dual-modal capabilities, which can perfectly simulate various complex movements of human hands such as welding, grasping, rotating, and pinching,” said Dr. Xu Jincheng, founder and CEO of PaXini Tech, a leading haptic technology and humanoid robotics company in China.
Elon Musk
Tesla Board Chair discusses what is being done to protect CEO Elon Musk

Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm met with Bloomberg this morning to discuss a variety of topics, but perhaps one of the most interesting was her comments on what is being done to protect company CEO Elon Musk.
After the assassination of right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk this week, there have been concerns about Musk’s safety, as well as that of other high-profile business leaders and political figures.
Earlier this week, Musk said himself that his security detail would be increased significantly following Kirk’s death, a move that many investors and fans of the company had requested because of political violence.
Elon Musk assures Tesla investors he will enhance his security detail
“Definitely need to enhance security,” Musk said. Tesla spent $3.3 million on Musk’s security in 2024 and January and February 2025. For reference, Meta spent over $27 million on Mark Zuckerberg’s security last year, which is higher than any other tech CEO.
During Denholm’s appearance on Bloomberg TV earlier today, she stated that the company has been focused on Musk’s security detail for “many years,” especially considering he is one of the richest people on Earth and holds an incredible amount of influence.
“It is something that we take very seriously; he takes it very seriously as well. So, again, from a board perspective, it is something we’ve discussed at length,” Denholm said.
Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm on increased security for CEO Elon Musk:
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 12, 2025
Denholm added that she believes “there is not anyone in a boardroom that is not touched by what has happened with Charlie Kirk.”
Although Musk’s political involvement has toned down significantly in the past, he still has enemies, especially based on groups that oppose him and the company specifically. Based on this week’s events, it feels that increased security is a necessary expense Tesla must account for.
Investor's Corner
Tesla bear turns bullish for two reasons as stock continues boost
“I think from a trading perspective, it looks very interesting,” Nathan said, citing numerous signs of strength, such as holding its 200-day moving average and holding against its resistance level.

A Tesla bear is changing his tune, turning bullish for two reasons as the company’s stock has continued to get a boost over the past month.
Dan Nathan, a notorious skeptic of Tesla shares, said he is changing his tune, at least in the short term, on the company’s stock because of “technicals and sentiment,” believing the company is on track for a strong Q3, but also an investment story that will slowly veer away from its automotive business.
“I think from a trading perspective, it looks very interesting,” Nathan said, citing numerous signs of strength, such as holding its 200-day moving average and holding against its resistance level.
He also said he believes a rally for the stock could continue as it heads into the end of the quarter, especially as the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit is coming to an end at the end of the month.
With that being said, he believes the consensus for Q3 deliveries is “probably low,” as he believes Wall Street is likely underestimating what Tesla will bring to the table on October 1 or 2 when it reports numbers for the quarter.
Tesla bear Dan Nathan has flipped his script on Tesla $TSLA shares, citing “technicals and sentiment”
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 12, 2025
Tesla shares are already up over five percent today, with gains exceeding nine percent over the past five trading days, and more than fourteen percent in the past month.
While some analysts are looking at the performance of other Mag 7 stocks, movement on rates from the Federal Reserve, and other broader market factors as reasoning for Tesla’s strong performance, it appears some movement could be related to the company’s recent developments instead.
Over the past week, Tesla has made some strides in its Robotaxi program, including a new license to test the platform in the State of Nevada, which we reported on.
Tesla lands regulatory green light for Robotaxi testing in new state
Additionally, the company is riding the tails of the end of the EV tax credit, as inventory, both new and used, is running extremely low, generally speaking. Many markets do not have any vehicles to purchase as of right now, making delivery by September 30 extremely difficult.
However, there has been some adjustments to the guidelines by the IRS, which can be read here:
Tesla is trading at around $389 at 10:56 a.m. on the East Coast.
News
Tesla lands regulatory green light for Robotaxi testing in new state
This will be the third state in total where Tesla is operating Robotaxi, following Austin and California.

Tesla has landed a regulatory green light to test its Robotaxi platform in a new state, less than three months after the ride-hailing service launched in Texas.
Tesla first launched its driverless Robotaxi suite in Austin, Texas, back on June 22. Initially offering rides to a small group of people, Tesla kept things limited, but this was not to be the mentality for very long.
It continued to expand the rider population, the service area, and the vehicle fleet in Austin.
The company also launched rides in the Bay Area, but it does use a person in the driver’s seat to maintain safety. In Austin, the “Safety Monitor” is present in the passenger’s seat during local rides, and in the driver’s seat for routes that involve highway driving.
Tesla is currently testing the Robotaxi platform in other states. We reported that it was testing in Tempe, Arizona, as validation vehicles are traveling around the city in preparation for Robotaxi.
Tesla looks to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market
Tesla is also hoping to launch in Florida and New York, as job postings have shown the company’s intention to operate there.
However, it appears it will launch in Nevada before those states, as the company submitted its application to obtain a Testing Registry certification on September 3. It was processed by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles Office of Business Licensing on September 10.
NEWS: Tesla has officially received approval from the Nevada DMV to start testing autonomous vehicles (robotaxis) on public roads.
Today, I confirmed directly with the Nevada DMV that @Tesla‘s application to obtain a Testing Registry certification was approved by the DMV Office… pic.twitter.com/hx5JhHBFiD
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 11, 2025
It will then need to self-certify for operations, essentially meaning they will need to comply with various state requirements.
This will be the third state in total where Tesla is operating Robotaxi, following Austin and California.
CEO Elon Musk has stated that he believes Robotaxi will be available to at least half of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Geographically, Tesla will need to make incredible strides over the final four months of the year to achieve this.
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla is overhauling its Full Self-Driving subscription for easier access
-
Elon Musk2 weeks ago
Elon Musk shares unbelievable Starship Flight 10 landing feat
-
Elon Musk1 week ago
Tesla’s next-gen Optimus prototype with Grok revealed
-
News6 days ago
Tesla launches new Supercharger program that business owners will love
-
Elon Musk6 days ago
Tesla Board takes firm stance on Elon Musk’s political involvement in pay package proxy
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla appears to be mulling a Cyber SUV design
-
News1 week ago
Tesla deploys Unsupervised FSD in Europe for the first time—with a twist
-
News2 weeks ago
Tesla expands crazy new lease deal for insane savings on used inventory