There’s a meme somewhere that says, ” I want AI to do this”, depicting a robot doing kitchen work in a house. Well, that wish is coming true, at least in New York.
Imagine opening your front door to a team of cleaners and a private chef offering their services for free. It sounds like winning a bizarre lottery, but there is one small catch: every sponge wipe, saucepan scrub and misplaced sock is being recorded for science, or more specifically, for robots.
According to this report, a New York-based initiative called “Shift”, run by AI company “Micro AGI”, is sending camera-equipped workers into people’s homes to collect data that could help train future household robots. The goal is ambitious: teach machines how to navigate the chaos of real homes, where every kitchen is different and every junk drawer appears to operate under its own laws of physics.
Workers wear cameras mounted on their caps, capturing detailed footage of cleaning and cooking tasks. Founder Bercan Kilic says the effort is necessary because robots need vast amounts of real-world data to learn how to interact with objects under constantly changing conditions. The company plans to sell anonymised datasets to robotics and AI firms.
For now, New Yorkers must decide whether a spotless apartment is worth helping train the robot butler of the future, and whether that future knows where they keep the good towels.