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Robot mentoring

Indian housewives with phones on their heads train humanoids that will perform household jobs in future

Updated: 2026-06-22 11:11

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A housewife wears a smartphone on her head as she records her actions through motion capture while slicing mangos at her home in Chennai, India, on May 15. R. SATISH BABU/AFP

With a smartphone strapped to her head, Indian housewife Nagireddy Sriramyachandra films herself slicing mangos to train AI-powered robots to take on household jobs in the future.

Earning just over $2 for an hour of video, her mundane recordings are invaluable for global tech companies teaching machines how to move like humans in the real world.

The 25-year-old is one of a growing army of thousands of AI system trainers in India.

"Who else will give you 250 rupees ($2.64) an hour just for doing housework?" said Sriramyachandra from her kitchen in Chennai in southern India's Tamil Nadu state.

"I may get a robot myself in the future," she said.

AI chatbots and image generators crunch reams of digital data, but building systems to navigate real-life environments is more challenging.

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