Embodied AI data collection supply chain investigation: ordinary people become data workers, about 4.47 billion yuan in funding in one year

Embodied AI lacks real manipulation data, spawning a complete supply chain from collection and annotation to trading; 15 independent embodied data service providers raised about 4.47 billion yuan within one year. The industry is shifting from centralized data collection centers to bodyless crowdsourced collection: Mifeng Technology launched the Mifeng Pai platform covering 40 cities, and Figure launched the Index platform with 69,943 weekly active contributors. At the same time, controversies persist over data being subcontracted layer by layer at falling prices, workers' lack of informed consent, and collected data ultimately training robots that replace their own jobs.