![\"Fernando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780334773_7_.jpeg\")
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Fernando Flores demonstrates the articulation of a robot performing a whisking motion at Encord on May 21.<\/p>\n
(Paul Kuroda \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
Goldman Sachs projects the global market for humanoids could reach $38 billion<\/a> by 2035.<\/p>\n The AI of these humanoid robots needs an immense amount of data on human movement. How humans write, speak, code and compose was easily scraped off the internet, but the bots need more information to master how to stand, step, lift, squeeze, pour and perform other physical movements. That is where companies like Encord come in.<\/p>\n The $10 billion<\/a> invested in robotics in 2026, according to CB Insights, has spawned an industry focused on training robots. Initially, that meant humans strapping iPhones to their foreheads,<\/a> recording actions like cooking, cleaning and performing household chores. That, however, doesn\u2019t capture the exact torque, force and grip required for a robot hand to work flawlessly. <\/p>\n Now, humans are directly guiding robots through expensive rigs that let them control the robots\u2019 movements. Data collected using robot arms offer richer insights into motor skills and object manipulation. Encord charges clients up to $1,000 per hour for training data.<\/p>\n The information gathered from trainers controlling robots is \u201csuper important to bridge the next level of learning,\u201d where robots will learn to correct mistakes and do the chores on their own, said Vineeth Velmurugan, head of robotics learning at Encord. <\/p>\n The company is already working with some of the top companies in robotics, but said it couldn\u2019t share most names. Among the clients it could mention were Toyota Research Institute and Weave<\/a>, which already has laundry-folding robots in a few homes. <\/p>\n Brian Gonzalez pulls an ethernet cable using a robotic arm at startup Encord on May 20.<\/p>\n (Paul Kuroda \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Many of the new robotic data companies are focusing on industrial use cases. Robots can perform better in a structured, predictable environment, like a factory or warehouse.<\/p>\n Home tasks are tougher, as layouts and tasks are more varied and messy. While many bots have mastered walking, they still struggle to open doors, fridges and washing machines smoothly. They don\u2019t know where or how to grasp a doorknob, handle or door edge or how much pulling, pushing or twisting force to apply.<\/p>\n Flores has mastered making the robot arms pour coffee, but he still often spills. When that happens, he deletes records of the attempt.<\/p>\n \u201cTypically, we don\u2019t want any mistakes,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we have more than three consecutive mistakes within a 15\u2011second window, that\u2019s not going to be good data.\u201d<\/p>\n Inside Encord\u2019s test facility in Hayward, it has replicated a standard American home with a fully furnished living room, kitchen and bathroom. <\/p>\n In the living room, a pilot rearranges an untidy study desk. She first scatters AA-size batteries, pens and scissors on the table, and walks back to the nearby control rig to make the robot arms place each one inside the tray of a desk organizer<\/a>. <\/p>\n Depending on the day\u2019s training, the pilots could be opening and closing refrigerator doors, whisking liquids in a bowl, sorting silverware or turning a water faucet on and off over and over until the robot arms get it right. <\/p>\n Cortney Weintz, left, and Tony Schiller record data with cameras at Encord.<\/p>\n (Paul Kuroda \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n In another corner of the facility, people wearing smart glasses place and pick up playing cards and sort plastic plates by hand, collecting first-person videos. <\/p>\n One key skill for the coming bot invasion: plugging in cables. <\/p>\n Companies want robots that can crawl into duct spaces, identify ports and plug cables to help build the massive data centers needed for AI. Encord replicated a real data center server rack, where an operator inserts blue cables into penny-sized sockets all day.<\/p>\n Many companies have entered this business. Meta-backed Scale AI<\/a> and Palo Alto-based Micro1<\/a> are major players in the space. China has more than 40 state-owned robot data-collection facilities where hundreds of on-site humans mimic train bots how to move in the real world. <\/p>\n In Watertown, Mass., Tutor Intelligence has set up a 100-robot<\/a> facility dedicated to harvesting movement data. Its robot arms<\/a>, which are being trained to do factory work, are controlled by a human team split across Mexico, the Philippines and Boston. This is in part to train its robot, Sonny, which will hit the market later this year.<\/p>\n Elaine Batchlor sorts screws and bolts with a robot in a mockup at Encord.<\/p>\n (Paul Kuroda \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n \u201cWe built the Data Factory to bootstrap the initial intelligence for the Sonny<\/a> robot, so that we can begin to deploy Sonny into the field,\u201d said Josh Gruenstein, co-founder of Tutor. Ten of its remote operators are based in Boston, and the rest are international.<\/p>\n Remote operation is emerging as an integral part<\/a> of the humanoid robot business. Employing teleoperators in countries where wages are much lower than in the U.S. could, in theory, mean a robot controlled by a human in another country could do a task at a fraction of the cost of having an American do it. <\/p>\n![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780334773_977_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Cortney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780334774_481_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Elaine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780334774_723_.jpeg\")
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