Technology companies are hiring workers in India to film themselves performing manual labor and domestic chores to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems for physical robots. The data, collected from both home-based recordings and specialized studios, is used to teach humanoid machines the motor skills required to perform tasks such as laundry, cleaning, and factory work.
The initiative follows trends in the AI industry to automate tasks typically performed by blue-collar and domestic workers. While some of these data collection efforts involve explicit contracts, other workers are reportedly enlisted to train these systems without their full knowledge that the robots may eventually replace their roles.
In the town of Karur, India, companies like Objectways have established sets that resemble kitchens and bedrooms to record workers performing specific actions, such as chopping onions or wiping cupboards. Other workers, like 24-year-old Sneha Jegadish, record themselves at home using smartphones clipped to headsets. Experts, including Prathosh A.P. of the Indian Institute of Science, describe this development as "physical AI," noting that existing AI systems require motor skill data to function in the physical world.
A person participating in this program would notice the immediate addition to their monthly earnings but would also spend several hours each day wearing recording equipment while performing standard household or factory tasks. The scale of this operation involves thousands of individuals contributing footage, as AI companies have determined that physical motor skills cannot be effectively "scraped" from existing internet data. This sets a precedent for how global labor markets may be utilized to develop autonomous physical systems, shifting the impact of AI from digital white-collar tasks to physical blue-collar services.
Industry representatives, such as Rajeshkumar Ramaswamy of Objectways, anticipate that humanoid domestic robots could be available for retail in India within the next few years. These machines are expected to handle tasks like washing clothes and preparing food. While workers like Jegadish expressed hope that robots would eventually alleviate the burden of chores, the transition will likely result in the end of current data-collection employment as the robots reach functional maturity. Specific retail release dates and the exact number of workers globally involved were not reported.