By Ahmed Abdelsalam
A San Francisco robotics startup is paying $20 an hour for people to walk four-legged robots through city streets as part of a real-world data collection effort. Dimensional, based in the Dogpatch district, posted the job listing on the Facebook group Bay Area Jobs seeking operators for shifts of four to six hours.
Job Details and Requirements
The robots are manufactured by Chinese firm Unitree, cost around $2,000 each, and weigh 15 kilograms (33 pounds). They can be controlled via a handheld remote or phone application. Applicants need no prior experience with dogs or robots, though the listing noted they must be comfortable handling the equipment. If a robot overheats or stops working during a walk, the human handler is expected to carry it back to the company office. Paid training is included, and workers are paid immediately after each completed shift.
Purpose Behind the Walks
The walks serve a technical purpose: the data collected helps improve the robots' autonomous navigation and teaches artificial intelligence how to control machines in unpredictable real-world environments. Dimensional is developing an open-source operating system designed to let AI agents operate different types of robots using natural-language instructions. Founder Stash Pomichter told The New York Times that humans are still needed in the loop to advance this capability.
Company Scale and Ambitions
Dimensional currently operates more than 100 robot dogs and 50 humanoid robots built by various manufacturers in the United States, China, and Germany. The ultimate goal is to enable autonomous AI agents to control robots capable of physical tasks such as delivering food, working on construction sites, or performing factory work.
