Ever wonder how future household robots will learn to chop vegetables or fold laundry without making a total mess? Thousands of workers in India are getting paid to teach them, and they are simply doing so by strapping smartphones to their heads while going about their daily household chores.
Teaching machines to move like humans
A report by Taipei Times via AFP reveals how global tech companies are relying on an army of data collectors to gather day-to-day human movements.
While AI chatbots crunch massive amounts of text data, building physical systems that can smoothly navigate real life is trickier than you think. To solve this tricky situation, AI developers are feeding “egocentric data” into specialized AI models. This egocentric data is simply first-person footage captured from a human perspective that allows humanoid robots to learn and copy human movement.
Hands-on training, high-tech gear, and instant feedback
Nagireddy Sriramyachandra, a 25-year-old housewife in Chennai and one of those paid to gather egocentric data for AI models, earns just over US$2 (250 rupees) an hour recording videos of household tasks like slicing mangoes. For Sriramyachandra, that is an offer that is too good to refuse
“Who else will give you 250 rupees an hour just for doing housework?” said Sriramyachandra.
There are other workers all over India just like Sriramyachandra performing the same role. Some of them work at home just like her, while others are in factories or specialized studios, using high-tech gadgets like video glasses, head-mounted cameras and, even motion sensors.
Sriramyachandra and the other data collectors record their footage through an app to Objectways, an AI data company with offices in India and the U.S. Sometimes, they get instant feedback and corrections from the specialized app.
“It blares ‘hands not detected’ when I’m not recording properly,” said Sriramyachandra.
A booming market for household helper bots
The push for this hyper-specific training data comes as investment bank Morgan Stanley predicts the market for humanoid robots could surge to over 1 billion units in use by 2050, primarily for commercial and industrial tasks.
Objectways CEO Ravi Shankar noted that clients frequently request recordings of specific everyday actions, including folding clothes, making coffee, or preparing sandwiches.
Digital labor expert Aditi Surie from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements in Bengaluru believes that there is a possibility that these data collection services will only increase with time.
Training their own robotic replacements?
The irony in thousands of data trainers filming their daily routines is that they are teaching machines how to automate human labor. As tech companies feed this first-person footage into AI models, the ultimate goal is building humanoid bots capable of taking on household chores and commercial tasks. There are many in India who see the risks in this.
55-year-old Ponni, who makes flower garlands for a living and is also one of the trainers, believes that the next generation after her might struggle with getting a job.
“The next generation who might have to do work similar to mine, they will face a problem,” Ponni said.
Ponni is not alone in her fears. The Indian government think-tank NITI Aayog shares similar views.
However, not everyone shares these fears and Sriramyachandra is one of them. The 25-year-old is hoping that one day she could even get a robot for herself.
From package drop-offs to operating rooms: The future is officially here!
Whether it’s four-legged robot dogs dropping packages right on your doorstep, humanoid bots pulling off live surgery, or AI trainees going to their very own “robot school,” technology is moving at a mind-blowing pace!
At this stage, you will be forgiven for thinking that the line between science fiction and everyday life has totally disappeared. Because, let’s face it, we are all thinking the same thing!
And as these machines get smarter and better at handling real-world tasks, they are moving out of research labs and stepping right into our daily lives. Regardless of where you stand on the argument regarding AI and robots, one thing is for sure: the future isn’t just on its way, it’s already hanging out on our front porches!
We are just one mind-blowing innovation from living in an I, Robot society. And if you decide to go by our latest reports on the FBI, we are closer to living the realities of the Minority Report movie than we think.
Sources: Taipei Times, Times of India, Geekspin