Tesla CEO Elon Musk says that the company’s long-promised humanoid robot, Optimus, is finally headed for consumers. 

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, Musk said that Tesla is “planning to make its Optimus robots available for sale to the public by the end of 2027.” That is when Tesla will be confident that the robots will be highly reliable, safe and functional. The robots will be able to perform any task, he said. 

If the timeline holds, it would mark one of the first attempts to bring a general-purpose humanoid robot into homes. The robot will cost between $20,000 and $30,000. In Musk’s view, Optimus robots could one day become as common as smartphones, with “everyone on Earth” eventually owning one. 

“My prediction is there will be more robots than people,” he said at Davos. 

For now, a small number of Optimus units are already at work in Tesla facilities, performing basic factory tasks. Musk predicted that those robots would be handling more complex jobs by the end of this year.

“Humanoid robotics will advance very quickly,” Musk said.

The Tesla CEO noted that early production will be slow because “almost everything is new” in Optimus’ construction, with new parts and processes involved. So even if Optimus technically goes on sale by 2027, early buyers should expect limited availability and a gradual rollout. 

Tesla engineers designed Optimus as a general-purpose humanoid robot that can eventually take over a wide range of physical tasks, like household chores. Musk said at Davos that once reliability and safety are high enough, “you can basically ask it to do anything you’d like.” 

Musk highlighted home uses for the Optimus robot that tap into real-world pain points, such as watching children, caring for pets and supporting elderly parents.

Barclays analysts estimate that the market for humanoid robots today is between $2 billion and $3 billion. The bank predicts that the sector will grow to at least $40 billion by 2035 as more AI-powered robots enter manufacturing. 

Despite Musk’s confidence, experts say mass-producing capable humanoid robots is technically daunting. Jake Loosararian, the CEO of infrastructure startup Gecko Robotics, said at a Davos panel that a challenge facing the industry was deploying robots into real-world environments.  

Investors are watching for proof that Tesla can build and scale these machines, not just demo prototypes. Mahoney Asset Management CEO Ken Mahoney, whose company is a Tesla shareholder, told Fox Business that investors need “credible evidence of scalable manufacturing” with the Optimus robots to boost confidence.

Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. Get it in your inbox.