As a result, humanoid robots are at last beginning to leave the lab and enter the workplace. On April 22nd Elon Musk reasserted during an earnings call that he expects “thousands” of Tesla’s Optimus robots to be working in its electric-car factories by the end of the year.

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk is bullish on how he sees the competition in what is arguably the next frontier for his U.S.-headquartered company—humanoid robots. “With respect to humanoid robots, I don’t think there’s any company in any country that can match Tesla,

China’s halt this month on exports of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has affected Tesla’s plans to manufacture Optimus robots.