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The surge in embodied intelligence technology in the country is creating a new employment sector. Stay-at-home mothers and factory workers are now earning money by gathering real-world data that trains robots to perform household chores and various other tasks.
These positions are being offered by a combination of companies specializing in embodied intelligence, data collection, and staffing. The roles are typically located at company training centers or designated work environments.
A few years ago, Wang Yanan was delivering food for a living. After joining a tech company based in Shanxi, he transitioned into collecting autonomous-driving data. When the company began offering embodied intelligence data collection services in the latter half of last year, he quickly became one of the first to take on this type of work.
Compared to the repetitive task of vehicle data collection, Wang says that the new jobs vary daily. He has recorded a wide range of embodied data from inside homes, hotels, and outdoor parks, capturing videos of himself wearing specialized equipment while folding laundry, wiping surfaces, and even preparing sandwiches.
His productivity and the quality of his recordings are among the top in his team. In a home environment, Wang reports he can shoot over 200 video clips in a single day.
This new category of work also provides part-time opportunities for some stay-at-home mothers. One young mother of two shared with us that she recently started working as a home data collector for a company called Longyu Big Data.
Her task involves using a robotic gripper device to pick up various objects around her house based on daily instructions. For instance, on May 12, she completed and recorded tasks involving clothing bags, building blocks, toy cars, and trash bins while her children were asleep.
Both she and Wang mentioned that the jobs are straightforward to learn, but doing them efficiently takes patience. Once they become familiar with the equipment and workflow, their productivity improves.
Often, the same task must be recorded in different environments at a client’s request—for example, folding clothes might need to be documented on a bed, beside a sofa, and next to a washing machine.
The company has been actively recruiting data collectors since late last year due to a rising demand for embodied intelligence data, according to their general manager. Applicants need a high school diploma and should be between 18 and 40 years old.
Currently, the company’s team of data collectors numbers about 100, with nearly 60% being stay-at-home mothers working part-time. The young mother of two told us she enjoys the flexible schedule, saying, “I can take care of my kids, make some income, and add variety to my daily routine.”
The company’s job postings indicate that monthly earnings for home-based data collectors range from approximately CNY3,000 to CNY4,000 (about USD442 to USD590).
Wang Yanan states that he usually makes between CNY6,000 and CNY7,000 per month, though his income can dip to around CNY5,000 when tasks are fewer or more difficult. Still, he considers it a decent job for someone living in a smaller Chinese city.
Many companies in the embodied intelligence field and data collection service providers tend to outsource these roles. According to Wang Huijun, the head of a tech firm, the demand for data collection in embodied intelligence is expected to continue growing, much like autonomous vehicle data collection did in the past.
Given considerations like land and labor costs, he predicts that these jobs will increasingly shift more toward smaller cities at the third and fourth tiers.
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