AI Robots: Companies Offer Free Home Services to Train Future Household Machines
New data-collection programmes use recorded cleaning and cooking tasks to develop the next generation of domestic robots.
Camera-equipped workers collect household task data to train future robots.
AI Robots are moving closer to everyday life as technology companies begin offering free household services in exchange for access to real-world data collected inside people’s homes.
One such initiative, called Shift and developed by AI firm Micro AGI, sends camera-equipped cleaners and other service workers into homes to record tasks and generate training data for future household robots.
The programme operates in New York City, where workers provide free cleaning services while wearing recording equipment mounted on their caps and connected to mobile devices.
According to the company, the objective is to capture detailed information about how humans complete physical tasks requiring movement, coordination and dexterity.
Micro AGI founder Bercan Kilic said the company aims to help advance robotics by creating systems capable of adapting to real-world environments.
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He argued that unlike text-based artificial intelligence models, robots must learn how to operate in constantly changing environments where objects, lighting and surroundings vary from one location to another.
To achieve this, the company said it must collect large volumes of real-world data.
The business model relies on gathering anonymised information and supplying datasets to robotics and AI companies developing autonomous machines.
Shift currently focuses on apartment cleaning in New York and has also expanded into other sectors, including vehicle maintenance projects in Turkey.
Supporters of the approach believe it could accelerate progress in domestic robotics and create more advanced service technologies.
However, privacy and digital rights experts raised concerns over the long-term consequences of allowing extensive recording inside private homes.
Critics argued that consumers may underestimate the amount of sensitive information captured during routine household activities and warned that collected data could eventually support technologies that replace human jobs.
They also questioned whether free services provide adequate value in exchange for highly detailed personal information.
Company representatives defended the model, describing it as a transparent exchange where users knowingly trade access to data for services.
They maintained participation remains voluntary and acknowledged that not everyone would be comfortable with the arrangement.
Despite privacy concerns, some workers involved in the project said they viewed participation as an opportunity to engage early with technologies that may reshape future employment and daily life.
The initiative reflects a broader race within the technology sector to build robots capable of performing household and service tasks once handled exclusively by humans.
