Getting Paid to Do Chores

Lesson overview

In Los Angeles, hundreds of people are strapping phone cameras to their heads and getting paid to do their dishes, cook dinner, and scrub their toilets. The catch? They’re training robots. AI and robotics companies need real-world movement data that doesn’t exist online, so they’re hiring gig workers to film their daily routines at home. Some workers earn $80 for two hours of footage. One couple in Pasadena even wears wrist cameras while cooking shawarma. This esl news lesson uses a short english article to look at what this new micro-economy means for workers, and whether helping robots learn human tasks is smart side income or something worth worrying about.

If your students found this topic interesting but need simpler language, try Meet The Humanoid Robot, an A2 lesson built around a video of the Unitree G1 in action. Students learn to describe what robots can and can’t do and discuss how they might help at home.