Innodata has opened a New Jersey laboratory to produce robot-training data and evaluate machine performance, the company announced on September 30. Developed with motion-capture specialist Vicon, the facility records movement directly from people and robots.
Its infrared optical tracking cameras can measure motion with sub-millimetre accuracy, according to Innodata. The company contrasts that approach with estimating three-dimensional movement from ordinary two-dimensional video.
Customers will be able to buy ready-made datasets or commission custom recordings. They can also submit robots for tests in scripted scenarios, including interactions with people. External camera measurements provide a check against the movement data recorded by the robots themselves.
The project addresses a challenge also explored in research on robots learning from human video: how to translate observed behaviour into useful physical skills. Work on reproducing human grasping strategies highlights a related problem, adapting demonstrations when objects and conditions change.
Innodata says its services can adapt motion data between different robot platforms and support both model training and evaluation. That positions the lab as a data supplier and testing facility, rather than a developer announcing a new humanoid. The release does not provide independent evidence that these services improve customers’ robots or establish their safety.