US carmaker Tesla turned the Boston Marathon into a live stage for its Optimus humanoid robot after placing it a few steps away from the finish line, at one of the race’s most photographed spots.

On Marathon Monday, the company stationed the robot at its 888 Boylston Street showroom in Boston, displaying it in front of thousands of runners from roughly 130 countries, as well as hundreds of thousands of spectators.

Used as part of a broader marketing push, the humanoid cheered on runners and posed for photos, while engaging with spectators, hence turning the global event into a high-visibility showcase at no advertising cost.

“Join us from April 19 to 20, 2026, at Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom to meet Optimus, our humanoid robot, for Marathon Monday,” the company said. “Optimus will be cheering with you on the sidelines and posing for photos.”

Optimus meets runners

According to California-based media company focused on Tesla, SpaceX, and Elon Musk, Teslarati, the humanoid’s location was a well-planned strategic move, since the final mile of the Boston Marathon runs along Boylston Street.

The 26.2-mile race, which is hosted by eight cities and towns, finishes at Copley Square, where more than 30,000 runners cross the line as hundreds of thousands watch, putting Optimus at the center of attention.

Also referred to as Tesla Bot, Optimus was first announced during Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Day event on August 19, 20221. The humanoid represents CEO Elon Musk’s vision to create a general-purpose robot designed to handle risky, repetitive, or undesirable tasks.

The first prototype debuted in 2022, standing five feet, eight inches tall. Powered by Tesla’s Autopilot hardware, it demonstrated basic motor skills with 40 degrees of freedom and custom actuators.

After serving popcorn at the Tesla Diner in Hollywood in July 2025 and appearing at a Miami showroom event in December 2025, the humanoid was showcased at the Appliance and Electronics World Expo in Shanghai in March 2026.

At the expo, staff said that mass production could begin by late 2026. According to Musk, at scale, the robot could cost between USD 20,000 and 30,000, roughly in line with a typical car.

Marathon robot rival

While Tesla showed Optimus as a static attraction at the Boston Marathon, China pushed humanoid robotics in a far more dynamic direction at the Beijing E-Town Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon.

Held on Sunday, April 19, a day before the Boston race, the event saw dozens of robots run alongside humans on a parallel course. It represented one of the first real-world endurance trials for humanoid machines.

Around half the robots completed the 13-mile (21-kilometer) race autonomously, without remote control. The winning robot “Lightning,” a bipedal humanoid built by Honor, a Huawei spin-off, finished the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds.

It reportedly surpassed the human half-marathon world record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds, held by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo, according to World Athletics.

“The future will definitely be an AI era,” Chu Tianqi, a 23-year-old engineering student at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, told Reuters. “If people don’t know how to use AI now, especially if some are still resistant to it, they will definitely become obsolete.”