A hyper-realistic, flesh-colored android head of Tesla boss Elon Musk on the mechanical frame of a four-legged robot dog was spotted by pedestrians on Oracle Park and the SoMa district on Wednesday. The Musk robot did not just walk past pedestrians but seemingly interacted with them as well. It later turned out that this viral stunt was actually an advertisement for Infinite_Loop. It is an exhibition by digital artist Mike Winkelmann.
Elon Musk’s robot dog takes over San Francisco streets
Pedestrians near Oracle Park and the SoMa district were left stunned on Wednesday when they spotted mechanical robot dogs with hyper-realistic heads of Tesla CEO Elon Musk walking by. The head, made of silicone, was attached to the mechanical frame of a four-legged robot dog. It also interacted with pedestrians (via Eweek).
Reports state that the robot dog waved, followed people, squatted, and performed other behaviors typical of dogs.
This stunt included fake posters spelling “Lost Dog.” But the posters featured robotic dogs with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s face. This one was unlike the one people spotted on the street.
It turned out that this viral stunt was actually the promotion for an upcoming exhibition. It is titled Infinite_Loop, by Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple. The exhibition, which is set to open on April 18, 2026, at the Node digital art center in Palo Alto, features a series called “Regular Animals.”
The series features similar Unitree Go2 robot versions of other industry titans as well. These include Jeff Bezos, Andy Warhol, and Pablo Picasso.
“Sending Elon into the streets is a way to bring that energy into public life ahead of the exhibition opening next week, and the reaction has been exactly what Beeple’s work does so well: it stops people in their tracks and gets them talking,” Phil Mohun, the director of Node, explained about this stunt to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The robots are also reportedly data collectors who use computer vision to map their surroundings. They “poop” out physical printed photos of their collection.
Originally reported by Sourav Chakraborty on Mandatory.
