SAN DIEGO, Dec. 9 -- A leaked video of a Tesla Optimus robot falling during a demonstration has gone viral, not because it fell, but because of a mysterious final gesture: as it toppled, the robot moved its hands to its face in a motion that observers say perfectly mimics a human removing a VR headset.

The clip has ignited intense online debate over whether the humanoid robot was acting autonomously, as Tesla claims, or was being secretly controlled by a human operator, Interesting Engineering reported.

The incident occurred during a recent "Autonomy Visualized" event in Miami, where the robot was handing out water bottles to attendees. The footage shows Optimus becoming unstable, dropping items, and then falling backward.

While falls ...