Startup Offering Rs 1,900 Per Hour To Walk Robot Dogs

A US startup called Dimensional is paying human handlers $20 (around Rs 1,900) per hour to walk robot dogs through city streets. According to a job listing posted in the "Bay Area Jobs" Facebook group, the experiment aims to train the four-legged AI machines to navigate real-world outdoor environments.

While the ad has since been deleted, according to a report in The New York Times, it required the successful applicants to walk the robotic dogs for four to six hours in a shift.

"Dimensional is hiring dependable people to operate a four-legged robot on outdoor testing routes around San Francisco. No robotics experience is required. We provide the robot, safety instructions, and assigned routes. Shifts begin and end at our Dogpatch office and last approximately 4-6 hours," read the job description.

It added that the applicants should be comfortable with walking outdoors for several hours, working independently, and using a smartphone. They should also be able to safely handle the robo dog, which weighs about 15 kg.

While the humans guide the robot dogs, the cameras and sensors fitted inside the machine gather information about surroundings, helping train AI.

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Dimensional is building an open-source operating system that lets AI agents control robots, so they can take on manual labor like hauling heavy boxes or working construction sites.

The company bought 100 robot dogs and 50 humanoid robots from manufacturers in China, Germany, and the US. The $2,000 robot dogs seen on the streets of San Francisco were purchased from Chinese firm Unitree. The machines can be controlled with a remote or an app.

Dimensional founder, Stash Pomichter, explained that the dog walkers were being hired to improve the machines' ability to navigate urban environments autonomously. He added that the robo dogs still needed humans, as AI agents were still very bad with hardware.

"What we determined from our dog-walking experiment was that agents are still very bad at controlling hardware," Pomichter stated.