China: Residents get paid to record housework activities for embodied AI data collection in east China's Shandong.
Shotlist Tai'an City, Shandong Province, east China - Recent 1. Various of data acquisition training session in progress 2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ren Luxin, trainer, Shandong Data Acquisition Valley (starting with shot 1/ending with shot 3): "Doing laundry, folding clothes, washing dishes, tidying the table, wiping the dishes and chopsticks -- you just need to make sure the two cameras on the device capture the movements of your hands and arms." 3. Recording device 4. Various of training session in progress 5. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Li Qinxia, local resident: "I think it's easy to learn. I can earn money while doing housework and it won't get in the way of looking after my child. It's great." 6. Various of local resident Chen Junxi doing chores wearing recording device; footage collected 7. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Chen Junxi, local resident (starting with shot 6): "I was worried at first and kept wondering if I could manage it. But once you have adapted, you can get used to it in three to five days." 8. Various of Chen peeling fruit wearing recording device 9. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Chen Junxi, local resident (starting with shot 8): "I can earn about 70 to 80 yuan (about 10.45 to 11.94 U.S. dollars) a day doing this work, and sometimes even more than 100. I have heard that training robots requires a large amount of data. This work can be done in long term and repeatedly, making it especially suitable for people who work from home." 10. Residential buildings 11. Various of resident doing chores wearing recording device; footage collected 12. Various of resident organizing fruits at supermarket wearing recording device 13. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Qiu Wenjing, local resident (starting with shot 12/ending with shot 14): "I have done all the housework this morning and finished recording. Then in the afternoon, I come here to record again, so the environment changes and it doesn't feel boring. As I get quicker at collecting data, my income will definitely increase." 14. Various of resident working at supermarket wearing recording device 15. Aerial shot of village, houses 16. Various of villagers producing traditional foods wearing recording device 17. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Ji Shancui, local villager (starting with shot 16): "I wasn't used to wearing it at first, but after a few days I don't really notice it anymore. It doesn't interfere with my work, and several neighbors in my village want to try it too." 18. Various of Ji working 19. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Sui Ming, director, local big data center (starting with shot 18/ending with shot 20): "By collecting data in keeping with the operation of local industries, our open scenarios become more authentic and valuable because they can transform the experience of traditional craftsmen and masters into data that machines can recognize and read, continuously expanding the scope and types of robot training data." 20. Various of villagers working 21. Various of Shandong Data Acquisition Valley, staff members working 22. Various of resident doing chores wearing recording device 23. Various of traffic, houses Storyline Residents in Tai'an City of east China's Shandong Province have recently taken on an unusual side job -- collecting data for developing embodied intelligence systems. By wearing a device that records their movements, they earn money simply by doing everyday household chores. At a training session organized by the Shandong Data Acquisition Valley and local human resources and social security department, residents were learning how to record routine tasks at home. "Doing laundry, folding clothes, washing dishes, tidying the table, wiping the dishes and chopsticks -- you just need to make sure the two cameras on the device capture the movements of your hands and arms," Ren Luxin, a trainer from the Shandong Data Acquisition Valley, told the residents. "I think it's easy to learn. I can earn money while doing housework and it won't get in the way of looking after my child. It's great," said Li Qinxia, a local resident. After completing such a training, 46-year-old local resident Chen Junxi began working as a home-based data collector a month ago. Every morning, Chen puts on the data acquisition device and goes about the day's household chores -- washing vegetables, cooking, and tidying the home. These daily life scenarios are recorded by the device, and the footage is then submitted to the Data Acquisition Valley. After processing and labeling, the videos become training materials for robots. "I was worried at first and kept wondering if I could manage it. But once you have adapted, you can get used to it in three to five days," Chen said. Chen has been unable to take a regular job far away from home because he needs to take care of his mother. Thanks to this data collection job, he can now earn money from home. "I can earn about 70 to 80 yuan (about 10.45 to 11.94 U.S. dollars) a day doing this work, and sometimes even more than 100. I have heard that training robots requires
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