Workers in China are teaching robots everyday household tasks such as folding clothes and sweeping floors, earning up to ₹57,000 monthly, according to livemint.com. The training involves performing repetitive movements that serve as data for robots to learn and adapt to real-world environments. This initiative has attracted a diverse group of workers, including those who lost jobs and students seeking internships.
At a Beijing studio, Liu Yun, a 40-year-old former automotive worker, participated by wearing sensor bracelets and chips on her fingers while performing tasks like moving cups and scrubbing surfaces. Instructions appeared on a screen, and her movements were recorded to train robots. Workers were monitored for productivity and accuracy, with daily targets of 160 samples and top performers exceeding 260. Some found the repetitive work tiring, with tasks like washing dishes repeated over 200 times daily.
The program reflects a growing trend of using human motion data to enhance robotic capabilities in household chores. While day shifts pay 120 yuan (₹1,704) and night shifts 135 yuan (₹1,915), some workers, including students, found the compensation insufficient for the physical and mental effort. Others, like Guo Hongjuan from Jiangsu, preferred the flexible hours and collected data from home for about six hours daily, earning around 4,000 yuan monthly.
The initiative highlights the intersection of labor and robotics training in China, with workers contributing to AI development through physical task replication. The South China Morning Post detailed these efforts, illustrating how human input is critical for advancing household robot functionality.