I Spent a Week Recording Myself Doing Chores for Money. Who's the Robot Now?
The article explores the growing trend of individuals recording their household chores to provide data for training robots. This egocentric data collection is becoming a lucrative gig economy opportunity, particularly for self-employed workers. Despite the low pay, participants find value in contributing to the development of AI while keeping their homes clean.
- ▪Individuals are recording household tasks to help train robots in fine motor skills.
- ▪The demand for egocentric data is increasing, with companies estimating a need for hundreds of millions of hours of footage.
- ▪Platforms like Kled and DoorDash's Tasks app are emerging to facilitate this type of gig work.
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Reece RogersThe Big StoryMay 26, 2026 6:00 AMI Spent a Week Recording Myself Doing Chores for Money. Who's the Robot Now?Cooking. Doing laundry. Tidying up. All your household tasks can be turned into data to train future humanoids—if you’re prepared for the consequences.Photo-Illustration: Jobanny Cabrera; Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyI 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 WIRED.
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