I Spent a Week Recording Myself Doing Chores for Money. Who’s the Robot Now?
Reece Rogers documented a week of performing household chores while recording from an iPhone strapped to his forehead. This effort aimed to provide egocentric data for training humanoid robots in performing human tasks. The experience highlights the evolving gig economy, where individuals monetize their motor skills for minimal compensation.
- ▪Rogers recorded mundane tasks like making a salad and pouring drinks to help train robots.
- ▪He earned $6.60 for an hour of video, which is below the federal minimum wage in the US.
- ▪His video submission was rejected due to insufficient visibility of his hands.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
I admit it, AI—and our complicity with it—continues to surprise me. For Wired, Reece Rogers recounts how he spent a week with an iPhone strapped to his forehead, recording himself doing mundane chores around the house, such as making a salad, pouring drinks, and tying his shoes, all in a bid to train the forthcoming generation of humanoid robots on how to do human tasks. Welcome to the latest iteration of the gig economy, where you sell your motor skills to what’s known as egocentric data collectors for pennies. I am no longer a mere human being. I am a conduit of reality, a medium of messages. I hold a knife in my hand and slice into an organic cucumber, hunching so the iPhone strapped to my forehead can capture all 10 fingers. I throw the slices into a salad bowl and end the recording.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Longreads.
