In the race for robot training data, ex-Meta researchers' startup turns to gig workers with cameras
Exclusive: In the race for robot training data, ex-Meta researchers’ startup turns to gig workers with cameras
Memories.ai, a San Francisco startup founded by former Meta researchers Shawn Shen and Ben Zhou, is launching Memories Upload, a global gig-work platform where contributors use wearable LUCI Pin cameras to record first-person video of tasks like food preparation and equipment repair for robot training.
Source: Robotics — Robot learning news discovery · Read original article ↗
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What the source reports
Publisher-reported claims, with original evidence. These results have not been independently verified by RoboSignal.
- Data origin
- Human egocentric dataOpen source S2
Reported numbers
video hours recorded in beta month
>1,000,000 hours
View original evidence
, developed by Memories.ai, weighs under 45 grams and attaches magnetically to mounts worn on a person’s head, chest or wrist. It captures POV video of the contributors doing various tasks. Two cameras can be paired for stereo capture, providing views that help estimate depth. Memories.ai says its network recorded more than 1 million hours of first-person video in the platform’s first month in beta and that it aims t
Open source S3target video hours by March 2027
>10,000,000 hours
View original evidence
o collect more than 10 million hours by March 2027. The company was founded by former Meta researchers Shawn Shen and Ben Zhou. The company has raised $16 million in venture capital funding to date, including an $8 million seed round in July 2025 led by Susa Ventures, with investors including Samsung Next, and an $8 million “seed extension” in June this year. Humanoid robotics startup Figure and Physical Intelligence
Open source S4seed round funding July 2025
8,000,000
View original evidence
o collect more than 10 million hours by March 2027. The company was founded by former Meta researchers Shawn Shen and Ben Zhou. The company has raised $16 million in venture capital funding to date, including an $8 million seed round in July 2025 led by Susa Ventures, with investors including Samsung Next, and an $8 million “seed extension” in June this year. Humanoid robotics startup Figure and Physical Intelligence
Open source S4seed extension funding June 2026
8,000,000
View original evidence
o collect more than 10 million hours by March 2027. The company was founded by former Meta researchers Shawn Shen and Ben Zhou. The company has raised $16 million in venture capital funding to date, including an $8 million seed round in July 2025 led by Susa Ventures, with investors including Samsung Next, and an $8 million “seed extension” in June this year. Humanoid robotics startup Figure and Physical Intelligence
Open source S4camera weight
<45
View original evidence
, developed by Memories.ai, weighs under 45 grams and attaches magnetically to mounts worn on a person’s head, chest or wrist. It captures POV video of the contributors doing various tasks. Two cameras can be paired for stereo capture, providing views that help estimate depth. Memories.ai says its network recorded more than 1 million hours of first-person video in the platform’s first month in beta and that it aims t
Open source S3
- paper: not_reported
- code: not_reported
- weights: not_reported
What remains unknown
Dataset licensing and commercial-use rights are not established here.
Source excerpts and review record
Automatically extracted; no manual editorial approval recorded.
Memories.ai is paying people to show robots how to do their jobs. The San Francisco startup supplies first-person video data for robot training, with cameras capturing the hands-on details of preparing food, stocking shelves and repairing equipment. The company is launching Memories Upload, a global gig-work platform where contributors take paid video-recording tasks to help train robots. Its wearable LUCI Pin camera
Open source S2
, developed by Memories.ai, weighs under 45 grams and attaches magnetically to mounts worn on a person’s head, chest or wrist. It captures POV video of the contributors doing various tasks. Two cameras can be paired for stereo capture, providing views that help estimate depth. Memories.ai says its network recorded more than 1 million hours of first-person video in the platform’s first month in beta and that it aims t
Open source S3
o collect more than 10 million hours by March 2027. The company was founded by former Meta researchers Shawn Shen and Ben Zhou. The company has raised $16 million in venture capital funding to date, including an $8 million seed round in July 2025 led by Susa Ventures, with investors including Samsung Next, and an $8 million “seed extension” in June this year. Humanoid robotics startup Figure and Physical Intelligence
Open source S4
hours of recordings. “What stands out is the focus on making everyday human experience searchable and useful for robot learning,” Zhuang said of Memories.ai . The company says its customers include three of the top five frontier AI labs, alongside robotics developers buying its first-person training data, although the company declined to name these customers citing non-disclosure agreements. Co-founder and CEO Shawn
Open source S10
Shen told Fortune that customers increasingly want footage covering a wider range of work environments, tasks and camera angles. Two people making coffee in different kitchens can supply useful variation, he said, even when they are completing the same task. Developers also request wrist-level footage to see interactions that a camera on someone’s head might miss, such as exactly when a hand touches an object. Adam
Open source S11
tion about the company’s June 2026 seed extension round. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Open source S16
Implications for data suppliers
RoboSignal interpretation and collection questions, not statements of buyer demand.
- Check whether the intended buyer needs human observations, hand or object annotations, or aligned robot actions. Human video alone does not provide robot commands.
- Compare the reported units and scope before using these quantities in a budget. Recording hours, sensor-hours and trajectories are different measures.
- Validate demand and acceptance criteria with a buyer before scaling. Publication, popularity and a research result do not establish a purchase commitment.
Source：Robotics — Robot learning news discovery · msn.com