Overview
- An LA Times investigation describes “arm farms” where workers wear head-mounted cameras to record precise, repeatable chores such as towel folding for training humanoid robots.
- ObjectWays staff follow strict protocols that force restarts for timing or step mistakes, with workers reporting large numbers of deleted videos to maintain consistency.
- 1X’s NEO includes an Expert mode that lets company employees take remote control, and industry figures discuss plans for centralized teleoperation hubs in lower-cost regions.
- Executives say current systems learn from a mix of human demonstrations, teleoperation sessions, staged settings and synthetic data, with much of the work still occurring outside the West.
- Companies are expanding data capture into real environments, including a FigureAI partnership tracking movement in 100,000 homes and startups like Micro1 recording everyday actions with smart glasses, as forecasts such as Nvidia’s $38 billion market estimate fuel the push.