San Francisco-based startup Dimensional recently posted a job advertisement seeking individuals to walk robot dogs at an hourly rate of $20. The role involved guiding the machines through city streets for four to six hours at a time to collect navigation data.
Founder Stash Pomichter stated that the company is developing an open-source operating system designed to integrate AI agents into robots. The goal is to enable robots to perform physical tasks autonomously, such as moving heavy objects in factories, data centers, or construction sites.
Dimensional does not manufacture hardware but has acquired over 100 robot dogs and 50 humanoid robots from manufacturers in the US, China, and Germany. The current fleet includes units from the Chinese company Unitree, which retail for $2,000 each.
The company uses human-led walking sessions to generate ground truth data for training AI models. Experiments comparing human control to AI agent control revealed that current AI performance in hardware navigation remains insufficient, necessitating continued human intervention.
The project has faced public scrutiny, including threats from individuals concerned about the potential weaponization of AI-powered robots. Dimensional has reported these incidents to local law enforcement while continuing to test security applications, such as autonomous office patrols.
