Tesla is offering an attractive pay of up to $48 per hour for those willing to spend extensive hours in a motion-capture suit. Over the past year, Tesla has recruited numerous workers to assist in training its humanoid robot, Optimus, leveraging data sourced from LinkedIn.Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, introduced the concept of a humanoid robot named Optimus in 2021. Musk envisions that Optimus will eventually take on a range of jobs, from factory work to caregiving. Tesla revealed in June that it had deployed two Optimus robots at one of its manufacturing facilities, and the company has been actively hiring personnel to collaborate with these robots during their development phase.The role of data collection operatorsThe position, titled Data Collection Operator, demands employees to walk predefined routes and execute specific tasks while equipped with a motion-capture suit and a virtual reality (VR) headset for over seven hours a day. According to Teslas Careers page, beyond collecting data, operators are expected to analyze the collected information, compile daily reports, and manage minor tasks related to their equipment and software.The job comes with specific height requirements, seeking individuals between five foot, seven inches and five foot, eleven inches. Christian Hubicki, a robotics expert from Florida A&M University, noted that this requirement likely aligns with the sizing of the Optimus robot, which Musk has indicated will stand around five foot, eight inches.Trying to be useful lately! pic.twitter.com/TlPF9YB61W— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) May 5, 2024Rigorous demands and attractive compensationTesla is looking for individuals comfortable with long periods in the motion-capture suit and VR headset, who can handle the disorientation and VR sickness symptoms that might occur from prolonged use. Tesla is offering full-time positions with multiple shifts available, paying between $25.25 to $48 per hour.Expert insights and industry comparisonsAnimesh Garg, a senior researcher at Nvidia Research and a robotics professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, explained that the role likely involves collecting data by performing tasks in the motion-capture suit, which is then analyzed by data annotators to train Teslas AI system. Operators may also engage in tele-operating the humanoid robot directly.Last year, Teslas Optimus social media account shared a glimpse of what the role entails, showcasing a video of an operator in a motion-capture suit with haptic gloves and a VR headset, manipulating objects while a virtual version of the Tesla Optimus robot mirrored the same actions.Teslas ambitious data collection goalsEarlier this year, Tesla seemingly ramped up hiring for this role, with more than 50 individuals having worked in the position over the past year, according to a review by Business Insider.Experts suggest that Tesla is focused on amassing vast amounts of data, a strategy similar to what the company employs with its Autopilot system. Jonathan Aitken, a robotics expert from the University of Sheffield, remarked that Tesla is effectively paying people to perform tasks in a controlled environment, rather than collecting data from a fleet of cars.Garg estimates that Tesla will need to log hundreds of thousands to millions of hours of data to effectively train Optimus to operate within its factories, a process that could be both time-consuming and costly. He pointed out that producing robots at scale is a formidable challenge, and even with extensive data collection, success is not guaranteed.The use of motion-capture suits and tele-operation for robot training is not new, but Teslas approach of using this practice at such a scale, and for a diverse array of tasks, is groundbreaking, according to Aitken. In traditional manufacturing, robots typically excel at a single task, but Tesla aims to push these boundaries.
