Runners and spectators alike taking part in the 2026 Boston Marathon Monday may have been fortunate enough to visit with the Optimus Bot from Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), a humanoid robot set for future mass production.

Unlike Chinese competitors in the humanoid robot space using races as a physical test, Tesla used the annual race as a marketing opportunity.

Tesla Takes On Boston Marathon, Honor Takes On Half Marathon

The Optimus Bot has attracted long lines at Tesla vehicle showrooms when it has been on display. The humanoid bot also became a viral hit while serving popcorn at the Tesla Diner in California.

On Monday, the Optimus' appearance was likely all about marketing ahead of an upcoming mass production launch.

"Join us from April 19 to 20, 2026 at Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom to meet Optimus, our humanoid robot, for Marathon Monday. Optimus will be cheering with you on the sidelines and posing for photos," an email from Tesla said about the event, as reported by Tesla influencer Sawyer Merritt.

The Boston showroom is near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, according to a report from Teslarati, making the appearance a key event for the thousands of runners and spectators who passed by the location.

While Optimus appeared at the annual race in Boston Monday, another humanoid robot appeared at a half marathon on the other side of the world. "Lightning," created by Chinese smartphone company Honor, competed in and won a half marathon race against other robots and human racers.

For the second straight year, the half marathon featured robots and humans competing in the physical test of running. Unlike last year's event, a robot won in 2026, as reported by NBC News.

"Lightning" took home top honors, finishing the race in 50 minutes, 26 seconds. That time was not only good enough to win this year's half marathon, it is seven minutes ahead of a world record set by a human seven months ago. Last year's top robot time was 2 hours and 40 minutes for comparison.

Needing some help to get up after crashing into a railing near the end of the race, "Lightning" helped Honor sweep the podium with the company's robots finishing first, second and third in the race.  

In the half marathon, robots and humans ran in separate lanes to avoid running into each other or interacting. Four of the humanoid robots finished with times under one hour. The top human racer time in the half marathon was 1 hour, 7 minutes and 47 seconds.

Humanoids A Big Bet By Tesla

Honor received orders of more than $146,500 for winning the race and likely received a ton of free publicity and attention on its robot.

Tesla is hoping that its public appearances and brand recognition are enough to lead to millions of orders by companies and consumers for Optimus in the future.

The EV giant has plans to make up to one million Optimus units annually from its Fremont factory and could produce 10 million units from Gigafactory Texas, according to Teslarati.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has placed a huge significance on Optimus for the future of Tesla. The Tesla CEO previously said Optimus "has the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business over time," and separately that roughly 80 percent of Tesla's future value will come from the robot program.

Musk believes Tesla's future value could be worth more than $20 trillion, making Optimus a multi-trillion bet for the company.

Tesla unveiled a working prototype of Optimus at its AI Day event in 2022. Since then, Musk has boasted that, in addition to performing standard household work (i.e., cooking, mowing lawns). The humanoid robot, he says, could take on significant jobs, such as babysitting, teaching, helping parents with their children, or taking care of the elderly.

Musk also once said "Optimus will be an incredible surgeon," hinting at potential medical capabilities.

“We’re also on the cusp of something really tremendous with Optimus, which I think is likely to be or has potential to be the biggest product of all time," Musk previously said, claiming it has five times the productivity of a person, since it can technically operate 24 hours a day while being plugged in.

Humanoid robots are a big bet by Tesla, but also by many Chinese technology companies. When it comes to running, Chinese rivals are ahead — but Tesla is still winning the marketing race.

Image via Shutterstock