EV giant Tesla Inc. TSLA is willing to pay up to $48 an hour for employees who collect data that it will then use to train its humanoid robots.
What Happened: Tesla is looking to hire “Data Collection operators” in Palo Alto, California, who will collect data to train its bots. The job description on Tesla’s Careers page reads that the individual will walk a predetermined test route daily for data collection and perform designation movement and actions wearing a motion capture suit and virtual reality headset, among other tasks.
“Note that the use of VR headsets or working in a virtual environment can be disorienting and uncomfortable for some people, which can result in VR sickness symptoms,” the company warns in the job description while adding that the individual will be required to work across multiple shifts and overtime when needed.
The person must be between 5’7″ and 5'11″ in height and must also be able to walk over 7 hours a day carrying up to 30 lbs. The expected compensation for the role is between $25.25 to $48 an hour.
For context, the minimum wage currently mandated in California is $16 an hour. At the top range of the compensation being offered by Tesla, an employee training the company’s humanoid bots would earn three times California’s mandated minimum wage.
Why It Matters: During Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in June, Musk said there will be at least one humanoid robot for every person in the world in the future, implying a total humanoid robot population of at least 10 billion or more, of which the EV company will have a significant share. Tesla’s humanoid robot is called Optimus.
"While autonomous vehicle is a $5-$7 trillion market cap situation, Optimus is a $25 trillion market cap situation," Musk then said.
Musk said last month that the EV company would have "genuinely useful" humanoid robots in low production for use within its factories next year. The company will "hopefully" increase production for other customers in 2026, he added.
Two Optimus bots are already employed in Tesla’s Fremont factory, taking cells off the end of the production line and placing them in containers, the CEO confirmed in early June.
Musk expects to be able to sell Optimus at $10,000 or $20,000, at a lower price point than Tesla's cheapest Model 3 sedan, once it reaches high-volume production.
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