San Francisco-based startup Dimensional recently posted a job opening for a robot dog walker. The role, which offered an hourly wage of $20, required candidates to guide robots through city streets for four to six hours at a time to collect navigation data.
The robots, sourced from the Chinese manufacturer Unitree, weigh approximately 15 kilograms. Walkers must be physically capable of carrying the devices back to the office if they shut down due to overheating. The company is currently testing whether AI agents can control hardware as effectively as human operators.
Founder Stash Pomichter stated that Dimensional is developing an open-source operating system for robots. The company has purchased over 100 robot dogs and 50 humanoid robots from manufacturers in the US, China, and Germany to train AI agents for tasks in factories, construction sites, and security.
The startup has faced public scrutiny and security concerns regarding its operations. After receiving threatening messages from an individual who feared the robots could be weaponized, the company filed a police report. Dimensional continues to explore autonomous applications for its fleet.
