Cyborg Index · September 2026
Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric) vs Tesla Optimus
Both humanoids read on the same 8 axes and 40 sub-axes, using the published Index scores. Every difference below carries the public evidence behind it, and sub-axes with no public evidence count as 0 rather than being skipped.
The public record is still thin on at least one side of this pair, so treat the ordering as provisional rather than settled.
Overall standing
Capability score · 0–5 over 40 sub-axesBoston Dynamics Atlas (electric)
Boston Dynamics
0.75of 5
Rank
#10
Coverage
15/40
Proof
0.12
Rank down 1 to 10 (was 9)
The short answer
Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric) and Tesla Optimus score the same — 0.75 and 0.78.
Nothing separates them overall. The table below shows the axes where they actually differ.
Where Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric) is ahead
- Deployment+1.20Rests on claims and demos
- Manipulation+0.40Rests on claims and demos
Where Tesla Optimus is ahead
- Autonomy+0.80Rests on claims and demos
- HRI+0.40Rests on claims and demos
- Learning+0.40Rests on claims and demos
- Perception+0.20Rests on claims and demos
What would change it
10 sub-axes on the trailing side have no public evidence yet. If all of them scored full marks they would be worth 1.25 — against a gap of 0.03.
- HRI · Speech ioup to +0.125
- Locomotion · Uneven terrainup to +0.125
- Perception · Spatial memoryup to +0.125
- Autonomy · Recovery from failureup to +0.125
- HRI · Social presentationup to +0.125
How much we know
45%of sub-axes covered
We have public evidence for 45% of the 40 sub-axes across these two. Treat this as an early read.
Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric) · 38%
Tesla Optimus · 53%
Early read
The shape of each score
15/40 sub-axes have evidence
Faint outline = Tesla Optimus
21/40 sub-axes have evidence
Faint outline = Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric)
Reading the wheels — clockwise from the top
- 1 Locomotion
- 2 Manipulation
- 3 Perception
- 4 Autonomy
- 5 Learning
- 6 HRI
- 7 Deployment
- 8 Safety
Each wheel has 40 spokes — five per axis. A longer spoke is a higher score, and the dashed rings mark 1 to 4. Hover or tab onto any spoke to read the axis, the sub-axis and the exact value. A missing spoke means there is no public evidence for that sub-axis yet, which is not the same as scoring zero. The faint outline on each wheel is the other humanoid, drawn on the same scale.
Every axis, every sub-axis
Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric)Tesla Optimus
Shared 0–5 track · widest gap firstDeployment
1.80 / 0.60◄ 1.20
Rests on claims and demosEvidenced cells · 4/5 vs 3/5
Named pilots
2.00 / 2.00
Field hours
— / 0.00
Customer diversity
1.00 / —◄ 1.00
Supportability
2.00 / 1.00◄ 1.00
Commercial posture
4.00 / —◄ 4.00
Autonomy
0.20 / 1.00► 0.80
Rests on claims and demosEvidenced cells · 1/5 vs 3/5
Unattended operation
1.00 / 1.00
Task horizon
— / 2.00► 2.00
Generalization
— / —
Instruction following
— / —
Recovery from failure
— / 2.00► 2.00
HRI
0.40 / 0.80► 0.40
Rests on claims and demosEvidenced cells · 1/5 vs 2/5
Speech io
— / 2.00► 2.00
Nl instruction
— / —
Intent recognition
— / —
Safe proximity
2.00 / —◄ 2.00
Social presentation
— / 2.00► 2.00
Manipulation
1.20 / 0.80◄ 0.40
Rests on claims and demosEvidenced cells · 3/5 vs 3/5
Grasp variety
2.00 / 2.00
Bimanual
2.00 / 0.00◄ 2.00
Force control
2.00 / 2.00
In hand reorient
— / —
Tool use
— / —
Learning
0.80 / 1.20► 0.40
Rests on claims and demosEvidenced cells · 2/5 vs 3/5
Imitation learning
2.00 / 2.00
Sim to real
2.00 / 2.00
Foundation policy
— / —
Data flywheel
— / 2.00► 2.00
Transfer fine tune
— / —
Perception
0.40 / 0.60► 0.20
Rests on claims and demosEvidenced cells · 1/5 vs 2/5
Sensor stack
2.00 / —◄ 2.00
Scene understanding
— / 1.00► 1.00
Spatial memory
— / 2.00► 2.00
Object permanence
— / —
Semantic world model
— / —
Locomotion
0.80 / 0.80
Not enough public record yetEvidenced cells · 2/5 vs 3/5
Flat ground walking
2.00 / 2.00
Uneven terrain
— / 2.00► 2.00
Stairs
— / —
Disturbance recovery
— / —
Speed endurance
2.00 / 0.00◄ 2.00
Safety
0.40 / 0.40
Not enough public record yetEvidenced cells · 1/5 vs 2/5
Functional safety
2.00 / 1.00◄ 1.00
Certifications
— / —
E stop arch
— / —
Incident transparency
— / —
Force impact limits
— / 1.00► 1.00
Segment length and thickness are the gapNo public evidence yet
Which is better for what
Each row is decided by the axes that matter for that kind of work, read off the same Capability scores as the ranking. Rows only appear where both humanoids have enough public record to answer.
Manufacturing and warehouse work
Named pilots and field hours, backed by what the hands can actually do.
Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric)
Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric) scores higher on Deployment and Manipulation — 1.60 against 0.67 for Tesla Optimus.
Running without a human in the loop
Unattended operation and task horizon, backed by what the robot can perceive.
Tesla Optimus
Tesla Optimus scores higher on Autonomy and Perception — 0.87 against 0.27 for Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric).
Moving through difficult ground
Uneven terrain, stairs and disturbance recovery.
Level
Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric) and Tesla Optimus read the same on Locomotion (0.80 vs 0.80).
Working alongside people
Functional safety and certification, plus how it reads and answers people.
Tesla Optimus
Tesla Optimus scores higher on Safety and HRI — 0.53 against 0.40 for Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric).
Picking up new tasks
Imitation learning, transfer and generalisation across tasks.
Tesla Optimus
Tesla Optimus scores higher on Learning and Autonomy — 1.13 against 0.60 for Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric).
Research and developer use
How much of the stack is documented and reproducible.
Tesla Optimus
Tesla Optimus scores higher on Learning and Perception — 1.00 against 0.67 for Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric).
How solid the record is on each side
Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric)
- Sub-axes on the record
- 15 of 40 · 38%
- Carried by verified material
- 16%
- Rests on claims and demos
- 0.63
Best documented — Manipulation, Deployment
Nothing on the record — every axis has at least one read
Tesla Optimus
- Sub-axes on the record
- 21 of 40 · 53%
- Carried by verified material
- 23%
- Rests on claims and demos
- 0.59
Best documented — Locomotion, Manipulation, Autonomy, Learning, Deployment
Nothing on the record — every axis has at least one read
What this comparison cannot settle
- Neither humanoid has a public read on 15 of the 40 sub-axes, so those cannot be compared at all.
- 14 sub-axes are read on only one side. A one-sided cell is undecided, not a zero for the silent side.
- Public evidence covers 45% of the sub-axes across the two. Treat the overall ordering as an early read.
- Most of Boston Dynamics Atlas (electric)'s score rests on vendor statements and demo footage rather than independently verified material (16% carried by verified evidence).
- Most of Tesla Optimus's score rests on vendor statements and demo footage rather than independently verified material (23% carried by verified evidence).
- Demonstrations happen in different environments and product revisions are not always equivalent, so like-for-like uptime and throughput figures do not exist for most of the field.