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Research · Compiled from public sources

Robot Data Collection Companies in Africa: Who Hires in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, What It Pays and Who Can Join

17 companies and programs that record, label, drive or fly for robot training data in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Rwanda, Uganda and Côte d'Ivoire: recording apps and the African firms that recruit for them, labelling companies, drone delivery operations, what each pays in its own currency, who can join, and the reporting on the work; 53 facts, each linked to its source.

Covers
2 Oct 2019 to 28 Oct 2026
Dated by when each event occurred
Calculated
29 Oct 2026, 01:24 UTC
Sources last checked 28 Oct 2026
Where it comes from
Company job postings and pages, Zipline and Sama press and job posts, the Ego4D paper, The Globe and Mail, MIT Technology Review, The Verge, Rest of World, Semafor, TechCabal, Techweez, Legit.ng, Business Daily, TechTrendsKE and Techsauce, each linked with a verbatim quote kept in the dataset.
Method
Revision 1. Terms defined
CC BY 4.0, citing this report

Each figure here comes as CSV and JSON files, emailed to your work address.

Need robot training data collected? We run the project: teleoperation sessions, first-person video, filmed household tasks or labeled robot video, staffed from the people who apply for this work through us, checked against your standard, starting with a paid pilot.

How we run projects

What the data shows

  1. 1

    Atlas Capture is the most documented of the 17 companies and programs (8 sourced facts).

    Figure 1
  2. 2

    14 published pay rates and reported earnings from 9 companies.

    Figure 2
  3. 3

    The most recent fact on record (20 Oct 2026): micro1's At-Work Video Recorder role, in which small business owners and their staff film their own commercial or industrial work for AI and robotics training, lists South Africa among its eligible countries and asks for at least 2 hours of recording a day.

    Figure 6

Figure 1

Robot data collection companies in Africa

Which companies record, label, drive or fly for robot training data in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Rwanda, Uganda and other African countries, what do they pay and how do people join?

CompanyWhere it worksSourced facts
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailAtlas CaptureAtlas Capture runs a labelling platform whose annotators, most of whom appear to be in Nigeria and Kenya, write a short description of every action in every segment of its household videos, The Globe and Mail reports.A 25-year-old graduate in Nigeria told The Globe and Mail that Atlas Capture paid her US$50 for 17 hours of household video recorded in a week, about US$2.94 an hour, issued in a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency.n/a
ZiplineZipline (Greenhouse job post)ZiplineZipline says it will open more than 20 new drone distribution sites across Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire over the next two years and launch its first Precision Delivery network in Kigali, Rwanda.n/aZipline hires early-career graduates (0 to 2 years' experience) in Côte d'Ivoire as dual operators who pack orders and launch and recover its delivery drones, on a one-year full-time contract with 24/7 shifts after training at the Zipline Academy.
SamaSamaSamaSama, a data annotation company whose largest offices are in East Africa, labels training data for robots from assembly lines to autonomous mobile robots, and long-range lidar and camera data for driver assistance and self-driving cars.n/aTo join Sama, Business Daily reported, a recruit needs fluent written and spoken English and basic computer skills; recruits are trained in office tools, web research and the basics of AI data annotation, then on specific projects.
micro1micro1 (job post)micro1micro1's At-Work Video Recorder role, in which small business owners and their staff film their own commercial or industrial work for AI and robotics training, lists South Africa among its eligible countries and asks for at least 2 hours of recording a day.A medical student in central Nigeria who records household chores for micro1 with an iPhone strapped to his forehead is paid US$15 an hour, MIT Technology Review reports.n/a
CloudFactoryCloudFactoryCloudFactoryCloudFactory markets an AV-centric workforce that prepares image, video, sensor and lidar data for robotaxi companies, and says a leading Level 4 autonomous taxi company is a client.A Nairobi annotator The Verge called Joe was paid US$1.20 an hour at CloudFactory before moving to Remotasks; in his first annotation job he labelled self-driving car footage frame by frame, eight hours of work for a few seconds of video paying about US$10.n/a
DataLens AfricaDataLens AfricaDataLens AfricaDataLens Africa offers AI labs managed egocentric (first-person) video collection pilots in African markets, handling the camera hardware, consent and capture protocols and annotation.n/aDataLens Africa recruits contributors through its AI Talents Program, which it describes as a pipeline of vetted, trained contributors across African markets for structured data collection campaigns.
Remotasks (Scale AI)The VergeScale AIFrom 2019 an annotation boot camp in Nairobi took in 50 recruits every two weeks for work its trainees knew as Remotasks, labelling things such as views from robot vacuum cleaners and lidar scans of motorcycles; the boot camps in Kenya were later closed, The Verge reported.Kenyan annotators on Scale AI's Remotasks told The Verge it paid relatively well when it arrived in Kenya, but pay for those it spoke with had fallen to between US$1 and US$3 an hour by early 2023.n/a
Welo DataWelo Data (Lever job post)Welo DataWelo Data's robot annotation work has annotators watch short robot manipulation videos from three synchronised cameras and write structured descriptions of each action; it says it has more than 500,000 contributors in over 100 countries.Welo Data pays US$3.50 an hour for freelance annotators who describe robot manipulation videos (Project Cursa), a remote role whose listed locations include Cairo, Egypt as well as countries in Asia and Latin America.n/a
ClaruThe Globe and MailClaruBusinesses that record workplace video for Claru are typically in Asia, Africa and South America, partly because of the regulatory environment there compared with North America and Europe, The Globe and Mail reports.Claru's earnings calculator tells businesses that a skilled trades firm in Asia or Africa can earn up to US$6,000 a month by having five workers record eight hours a week, and restaurants, retailers and cleaners up to US$3,400, The Globe and Mail reports.n/a
Digital Divide DataCorporate Staffing Services (DDD Kenya job post)Digital Divide DataDigital Divide Data's on-site Nairobi roles label autonomous vehicle and driver-assistance data, including lidar, bounding boxes and image segmentation, and ask for at least a year of such experience; the posting lists the salary as open.n/aDigital Divide Data (DDD) advertised a two-week, in-person boot camp at its Nairobi offices in September 2026 for autonomous vehicle and driver-assistance data labellers with at least a year's experience; completion pays a training stipend but does not guarantee work.
Ego4DarXiv (Ego4D paper, Grauman et al.)Ego4D consortium (Meta and universities)For the Ego4D first-person video dataset, Carnegie Mellon University Africa recorded over 150 hours of hobbyist craftspeople and daily workers in Kigali, Rwanda, on GoPro cameras, aiming to capture how tasks such as laundry are done there.n/an/a
KledLegit.ngKledn/an/an/a
MyDeepTechMyDeepTechMyDeep Technologiesn/aMyDeepTech, a Nigerian AI data company, pays ₦2,500 per approved hour for first-person videos of household tasks such as ironing, washing dishes and cleaning, recorded at home on an iPhone 11 or newer.MyDeepTech's recorders join through its WhatsApp channel, then download the Atlas Capture app and enter MyDeepTech's project invitation code before training and recording, so the Nigerian firm recruits for Atlas Capture's household video project.
OpenTrain AIOpenTrain AI (job listing)OpenTrain AIn/aAn OpenTrain AI listing pays US$8 to US$12 an hour for recording first-person video of one's own commercial or industrial work for AI and robotics training, open in South Africa and eight other countries, under 20 hours a week.OpenTrain AI's workplace recording role asks for fluent English, a recent iPhone, Pixel or Galaxy phone and a head strap, and the workplace manager's consent before recording.
PerlePerle (Rippling job post)PerlePerle runs a remote first-person video posting for contributors based in Egypt, who record everyday tasks at home and at work with a phone on a headstrap; they must be 18 or older.Perle's Egypt posting publishes no rate: pay varies by region and is paid per hour of accepted footage, with at least 10 hours a week preferred and a budget given for the headstrap.n/a
Vision LabTechsauceVision LabVision Lab, a San Francisco robot data startup that films real production work in partner factories, says it works with more than 2,000 factories across Asia and Africa, mainly in China and India.n/an/a
Human Motion DataThe Globe and MailHuman Motion Datan/an/an/a

Base: 17 companies and programs, 53 facts, each linked to the page that states it (reviewed 28 Oct 2026).

Company and posting claims are marked stated; what reporters relay or workers told them is marked reported. Pay stays in the currency and unit its source gives (US dollars or Nigerian naira).

Credit: compiled by RobotTraining.jobs Research, Robot Data Collection Companies in Africa: Who Hires in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, What It Pays and Who Can Join, checked 28 Oct 2026.

Figure 2

What recorders, labellers and operators in Africa are paid

How much do people in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt earn recording or labelling robot training data?

CompanyPay as stated
MyDeepTechMyDeepTechMyDeepTech, a Nigerian AI data company, pays ₦2,500 per approved hour for first-person videos of household tasks such as ironing, washing dishes and cleaning, recorded at home on an iPhone 11 or newer.as of 28 Oct 2026
PerlePerle (Rippling job post)Perle's Egypt posting publishes no rate: pay varies by region and is paid per hour of accepted footage, with at least 10 hours a week preferred and a budget given for the headstrap.as of 28 Oct 2026
Welo DataWelo Data (Lever job post)Welo Data pays US$3.50 an hour for freelance annotators who describe robot manipulation videos (Project Cursa), a remote role whose listed locations include Cairo, Egypt as well as countries in Asia and Latin America.as of 28 Oct 2026
Welo DataWelo Data (Lever job post)Welo Data pays US$4.03 an hour for remote quality-control reviewers of its robot manipulation video annotations, a role that also lists Cairo, Egypt.as of 28 Oct 2026
OpenTrain AIOpenTrain AI (job listing)An OpenTrain AI listing pays US$8 to US$12 an hour for recording first-person video of one's own commercial or industrial work for AI and robotics training, open in South Africa and eight other countries, under 20 hours a week.20 Oct 2026
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailA 25-year-old graduate in Nigeria told The Globe and Mail that Atlas Capture paid her US$50 for 17 hours of household video recorded in a week, about US$2.94 an hour, issued in a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency.9 Oct 2026
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailA 28-year-old Atlas Capture annotator in Abuja told The Globe and Mail he could earn up to 50 US cents for each annotated video segment, which can run up to two minutes.9 Oct 2026
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailAn Atlas Capture annotator in Kenya showed The Globe and Mail a video of about 1 minute 40 seconds that paid US$0.46 to label.9 Oct 2026
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailA 37-year-old Atlas Capture annotator in Nigeria told The Globe and Mail the most he earned in a day was US$6; spotty electricity and internet made long stretches hard, and he found the setup unfair and stopped.9 Oct 2026
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailAfter Atlas Capture halted labelling in August 2026, its annotators were moved to checking existing labels at US$0.0067 per clip of a few seconds, with a target of 1,640 segments a day; the project was then paused, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026
ClaruThe Globe and MailClaru's earnings calculator tells businesses that a skilled trades firm in Asia or Africa can earn up to US$6,000 a month by having five workers record eight hours a week, and restaurants, retailers and cleaners up to US$3,400, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026
micro1MIT Technology ReviewA medical student in central Nigeria who records household chores for micro1 with an iPhone strapped to his forehead is paid US$15 an hour, MIT Technology Review reports.1 Apr 2026
CloudFactoryThe VergeA Nairobi annotator The Verge called Joe was paid US$1.20 an hour at CloudFactory before moving to Remotasks; in his first annotation job he labelled self-driving car footage frame by frame, eight hours of work for a few seconds of video paying about US$10.20 Jun 2023
Remotasks (Scale AI)The VergeKenyan annotators on Scale AI's Remotasks told The Verge it paid relatively well when it arrived in Kenya, but pay for those it spoke with had fallen to between US$1 and US$3 an hour by early 2023.20 Jun 2023

Base: 14 facts from 9 companies and programs.

Pay stays in its source's currency and unit: US dollars per hour, per approved hour, per labelled clip or segment, per day or per month for a business, or naira per approved hour. Several figures are one worker's reported earnings, and the 2023 labelling rates are older than the 2026 recording rates.

Credit: compiled by RobotTraining.jobs Research, Robot Data Collection Companies in Africa: Who Hires in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, What It Pays and Who Can Join, checked 28 Oct 2026.

Figure 3

Who can join, and how the work runs

Which African countries does each program take, what phone, hours and experience does it ask for, and how do people sign up?

CompanyAs stated
MyDeepTechMyDeepTechMyDeepTech's recorders join through its WhatsApp channel, then download the Atlas Capture app and enter MyDeepTech's project invitation code before training and recording, so the Nigerian firm recruits for Atlas Capture's household video project.as of 28 Oct 2026
PerlePerle (Rippling job post)Perle runs a remote first-person video posting for contributors based in Egypt, who record everyday tasks at home and at work with a phone on a headstrap; they must be 18 or older.as of 28 Oct 2026
ZiplineZipline (Greenhouse job post)Zipline hires early-career graduates (0 to 2 years' experience) in Côte d'Ivoire as dual operators who pack orders and launch and recover its delivery drones, on a one-year full-time contract with 24/7 shifts after training at the Zipline Academy.as of 28 Oct 2026
micro1micro1 (job post)micro1's At-Work Video Recorder role, in which small business owners and their staff film their own commercial or industrial work for AI and robotics training, lists South Africa among its eligible countries and asks for at least 2 hours of recording a day.20 Oct 2026
OpenTrain AIOpenTrain AI (job listing)OpenTrain AI's workplace recording role asks for fluent English, a recent iPhone, Pixel or Galaxy phone and a head strap, and the workplace manager's consent before recording.20 Oct 2026
Digital Divide DataCorporate Staffing Services (DDD Kenya job post)Digital Divide Data (DDD) advertised a two-week, in-person boot camp at its Nairobi offices in September 2026 for autonomous vehicle and driver-assistance data labellers with at least a year's experience; completion pays a training stipend but does not guarantee work.29 Sep 2026
DataLens AfricaDataLens AfricaDataLens Africa recruits contributors through its AI Talents Program, which it describes as a pipeline of vetted, trained contributors across African markets for structured data collection campaigns.16 Jun 2026
SamaBusiness Daily (Kenya)To join Sama, Business Daily reported, a recruit needs fluent written and spoken English and basic computer skills; recruits are trained in office tools, web research and the basics of AI data annotation, then on specific projects.2 Oct 2019

Base: 8 facts from 8 companies and programs.

Credit: compiled by RobotTraining.jobs Research, Robot Data Collection Companies in Africa: Who Hires in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, What It Pays and Who Can Join, checked 28 Oct 2026.

Figure 4

Scale, clients and funding

How big are the African robot data and drone operations, who buys the data and who funds them?

CompanyAs stated
SamaSamaSama says its hiring model, aimed at women and young people below the international poverty line in East Africa, has connected more than 13,000 people to digital work.as of 28 Oct 2026
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailAtlas Capture says on its website that it has a million users, though it names no one who runs it; corporate records show it was registered in Wyoming in late 2025, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026
ZiplineSemaforCôte d'Ivoire's government will pay Zipline's operating costs for eight years under a deal in which Zipline builds nine more drone facilities beside the one it has run there since 2023, Semafor reports.22 Sep 2026
Vision LabTechsauceVision Lab, which raised US$6 million, counts three of the 'Magnificent Seven' tech companies among its clients, and its partner factories have earned more than US$1 million in data licensing revenue in total, Techsauce reports.15 Jun 2026
KledTechweezKled had reached the top 100 apps on Nigeria's App Store in its first four months and says about 200,000 contributors upload 3 million files a day to it, Techweez reports.5 May 2026
micro1MIT Technology Reviewmicro1, a Palo Alto company that sells real-world data to robotics companies, has hired thousands of contract data recorders in more than 50 countries, Nigeria among them, MIT Technology Review reports.1 Apr 2026
ZiplineZiplineZipline says its expanded nationwide drone network in Rwanda, with a third hub in Karongi District beside Muhanga and Kayonza, will cover over 11 million people and support about 350 local jobs.4 Feb 2026
ZiplineZiplineZipline will receive up to US$150 million from the US State Department, released as African governments sign expansion contracts, with African countries paying up to US$400 million in usage fees.25 Nov 2025
SamaTechTrendsKEAfter leaving content moderation, Sama said in September 2023 it would hire and train more than 2,000 young Kenyans in computer vision labelling, joining a Nairobi team of over 3,000 staff, TechTrendsKE reported.11 Sep 2023
CloudFactoryVentureBeat (article copy on CloudFactory's site)CloudFactory, a data labelling company with offices in Kenya and Nepal, counted more than 11 autonomous vehicle startups among its over 130 clients in 2019, nuTonomy and Embark among them, VentureBeat reported; its workers annotate 3D point clouds and sensor fusion data.20 Nov 2019

Base: 10 facts from 7 companies and programs.

Credit: compiled by RobotTraining.jobs Research, Robot Data Collection Companies in Africa: Who Hires in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, What It Pays and Who Can Join, checked 28 Oct 2026.

Figure 5

Working conditions, rules and the market

What has reporting found about unpaid work, quality scores, country bans and drone rules, and why are robot data buyers looking at Africa?

CompanyAs stated
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailAtlas Capture annotators each carry a quality score, and work scored below 70 per cent goes unpaid, a rule the company posted on its labellers' Discord, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026
Human Motion DataThe Globe and MailHuman Motion Data's founder told The Globe and Mail the app has videos from Kenya and Nigeria, but wondered whether robotics buyers would find homes there too far from their target homes; it pays US$3 per approved hour.9 Oct 2026
DataLens AfricaDataLens AfricaDataLens Africa argues that Africa is becoming a source of original first-person data for robotics and spatial computing, not only a destination for cheap outsourced annotation, because models trained on Western homes and roads fail in places like Lagos, Nairobi and Accra.16 Jun 2026
ZiplineTechCabalAs of May 2026, every drone operator in Nigeria must obtain an End-User Certificate from the Office of the National Security Adviser before approaching the civil aviation authority for a permit, TechCabal reports in its story on Zipline's Nigerian expansion.28 May 2026
KledLegit.ngKled, a US platform that pays people for uploading photos, videos and other data, removed its app from the Nigerian app store and blocked access from Nigeria in May 2026, its founder citing a fraud rate of about 95 per cent among Nigerian uploads.5 May 2026
micro1MIT Technology ReviewA former banker who records for micro1 in Nigeria tiptoes around her shared compound when filming laundry so she does not record her neighbours, MIT Technology Review reports, one of the privacy strains of filming at home.1 Apr 2026
Remotasks (Scale AI)Rest of WorldScale AI's Remotasks shut down entirely in Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan in March 2024, cutting off workers who labelled lidar data without explanation; Scale AI cited enhanced security protocols, Rest of World reported.28 Mar 2024

Base: 7 facts from 7 companies and programs.

Credit: compiled by RobotTraining.jobs Research, Robot Data Collection Companies in Africa: Who Hires in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, What It Pays and Who Can Join, checked 28 Oct 2026.

Figure 6

Every sourced fact

What exactly has been published about each company?

CompanyKindFact
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailPayA 25-year-old graduate in Nigeria told The Globe and Mail that Atlas Capture paid her US$50 for 17 hours of household video recorded in a week, about US$2.94 an hour, issued in a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailWhere it worksAtlas Capture runs a labelling platform whose annotators, most of whom appear to be in Nigeria and Kenya, write a short description of every action in every segment of its household videos, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailPayA 28-year-old Atlas Capture annotator in Abuja told The Globe and Mail he could earn up to 50 US cents for each annotated video segment, which can run up to two minutes.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailPayAn Atlas Capture annotator in Kenya showed The Globe and Mail a video of about 1 minute 40 seconds that paid US$0.46 to label.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailPayA 37-year-old Atlas Capture annotator in Nigeria told The Globe and Mail the most he earned in a day was US$6; spotty electricity and internet made long stretches hard, and he found the setup unfair and stopped.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailWorking conditionsAtlas Capture annotators each carry a quality score, and work scored below 70 per cent goes unpaid, a rule the company posted on its labellers' Discord, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailPayAfter Atlas Capture halted labelling in August 2026, its annotators were moved to checking existing labels at US$0.0067 per clip of a few seconds, with a target of 1,640 segments a day; the project was then paused, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
Atlas CaptureThe Globe and MailScaleAtlas Capture says on its website that it has a million users, though it names no one who runs it; corporate records show it was registered in Wyoming in late 2025, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
ClaruThe Globe and MailPayClaru's earnings calculator tells businesses that a skilled trades firm in Asia or Africa can earn up to US$6,000 a month by having five workers record eight hours a week, and restaurants, retailers and cleaners up to US$3,400, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
ClaruThe Globe and MailWhere it worksBusinesses that record workplace video for Claru are typically in Asia, Africa and South America, partly because of the regulatory environment there compared with North America and Europe, The Globe and Mail reports.9 Oct 2026Reported by an outlet
CloudFactoryCloudFactoryWhat it doesCloudFactory markets an AV-centric workforce that prepares image, video, sensor and lidar data for robotaxi companies, and says a leading Level 4 autonomous taxi company is a client.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
CloudFactoryThe VergePayA Nairobi annotator The Verge called Joe was paid US$1.20 an hour at CloudFactory before moving to Remotasks; in his first annotation job he labelled self-driving car footage frame by frame, eight hours of work for a few seconds of video paying about US$10.20 Jun 2023Reported by an outlet
CloudFactoryVentureBeat (article copy on CloudFactory's site)ClientsCloudFactory, a data labelling company with offices in Kenya and Nepal, counted more than 11 autonomous vehicle startups among its over 130 clients in 2019, nuTonomy and Embark among them, VentureBeat reported; its workers annotate 3D point clouds and sensor fusion data.20 Nov 2019Reported by an outlet
DataLens AfricaDataLens AfricaWhat it doesDataLens Africa offers AI labs managed egocentric (first-person) video collection pilots in African markets, handling the camera hardware, consent and capture protocols and annotation.16 Jun 2026Stated by the company or an official page
DataLens AfricaDataLens AfricaHow it works and who can joinDataLens Africa recruits contributors through its AI Talents Program, which it describes as a pipeline of vetted, trained contributors across African markets for structured data collection campaigns.16 Jun 2026Stated by the company or an official page
DataLens AfricaDataLens AfricaMarketDataLens Africa argues that Africa is becoming a source of original first-person data for robotics and spatial computing, not only a destination for cheap outsourced annotation, because models trained on Western homes and roads fail in places like Lagos, Nairobi and Accra.16 Jun 2026Stated by the company or an official page
Digital Divide DataCorporate Staffing Services (DDD Kenya job post)How it works and who can joinDigital Divide Data (DDD) advertised a two-week, in-person boot camp at its Nairobi offices in September 2026 for autonomous vehicle and driver-assistance data labellers with at least a year's experience; completion pays a training stipend but does not guarantee work.29 Sep 2026Stated by the company or an official page
Digital Divide DataCorporate Staffing Services (DDD Kenya job post)Where it worksDigital Divide Data's on-site Nairobi roles label autonomous vehicle and driver-assistance data, including lidar, bounding boxes and image segmentation, and ask for at least a year of such experience; the posting lists the salary as open.29 Sep 2026Stated by the company or an official page
Ego4DarXiv (Ego4D paper, Grauman et al.)Where it worksFor the Ego4D first-person video dataset, Carnegie Mellon University Africa recorded over 150 hours of hobbyist craftspeople and daily workers in Kigali, Rwanda, on GoPro cameras, aiming to capture how tasks such as laundry are done there.11 Mar 2022Stated by the company or an official page
Ego4DarXiv (Ego4D paper, Grauman et al.)Where it worksThe Ego4D paper says its narrations were written by crowdsourced annotators at two sites in Africa, and warns the descriptions may lean toward their local word choices.11 Mar 2022Stated by the company or an official page
Human Motion DataThe Globe and MailMarketHuman Motion Data's founder told The Globe and Mail the app has videos from Kenya and Nigeria, but wondered whether robotics buyers would find homes there too far from their target homes; it pays US$3 per approved hour.9 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
KledLegit.ngPolicyKled, a US platform that pays people for uploading photos, videos and other data, removed its app from the Nigerian app store and blocked access from Nigeria in May 2026, its founder citing a fraud rate of about 95 per cent among Nigerian uploads.5 May 2026Reported by an outlet
KledTechweezScaleKled had reached the top 100 apps on Nigeria's App Store in its first four months and says about 200,000 contributors upload 3 million files a day to it, Techweez reports.5 May 2026Reported by an outlet
micro1micro1 (job post)Countries it takesmicro1's At-Work Video Recorder role, in which small business owners and their staff film their own commercial or industrial work for AI and robotics training, lists South Africa among its eligible countries and asks for at least 2 hours of recording a day.20 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
micro1MIT Technology ReviewPayA medical student in central Nigeria who records household chores for micro1 with an iPhone strapped to his forehead is paid US$15 an hour, MIT Technology Review reports.1 Apr 2026Reported by an outlet
micro1MIT Technology ReviewScalemicro1, a Palo Alto company that sells real-world data to robotics companies, has hired thousands of contract data recorders in more than 50 countries, Nigeria among them, MIT Technology Review reports.1 Apr 2026Reported by an outlet
micro1MIT Technology ReviewWorking conditionsA former banker who records for micro1 in Nigeria tiptoes around her shared compound when filming laundry so she does not record her neighbours, MIT Technology Review reports, one of the privacy strains of filming at home.1 Apr 2026Reported by an outlet
MyDeepTechMyDeepTechPayMyDeepTech, a Nigerian AI data company, pays ₦2,500 per approved hour for first-person videos of household tasks such as ironing, washing dishes and cleaning, recorded at home on an iPhone 11 or newer.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
MyDeepTechMyDeepTechHow it works and who can joinMyDeepTech's recorders join through its WhatsApp channel, then download the Atlas Capture app and enter MyDeepTech's project invitation code before training and recording, so the Nigerian firm recruits for Atlas Capture's household video project.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
OpenTrain AIOpenTrain AI (job listing)PayAn OpenTrain AI listing pays US$8 to US$12 an hour for recording first-person video of one's own commercial or industrial work for AI and robotics training, open in South Africa and eight other countries, under 20 hours a week.20 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
OpenTrain AIOpenTrain AI (job listing)How it works and who can joinOpenTrain AI's workplace recording role asks for fluent English, a recent iPhone, Pixel or Galaxy phone and a head strap, and the workplace manager's consent before recording.20 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
PerlePerle (Rippling job post)Countries it takesPerle runs a remote first-person video posting for contributors based in Egypt, who record everyday tasks at home and at work with a phone on a headstrap; they must be 18 or older.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
PerlePerle (Rippling job post)PayPerle's Egypt posting publishes no rate: pay varies by region and is paid per hour of accepted footage, with at least 10 hours a week preferred and a budget given for the headstrap.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
Remotasks (Scale AI)Rest of WorldPolicyScale AI's Remotasks shut down entirely in Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan in March 2024, cutting off workers who labelled lidar data without explanation; Scale AI cited enhanced security protocols, Rest of World reported.28 Mar 2024Reported by an outlet
Remotasks (Scale AI)The VergePayKenyan annotators on Scale AI's Remotasks told The Verge it paid relatively well when it arrived in Kenya, but pay for those it spoke with had fallen to between US$1 and US$3 an hour by early 2023.20 Jun 2023Reported by an outlet
Remotasks (Scale AI)The VergeWhere it worksFrom 2019 an annotation boot camp in Nairobi took in 50 recruits every two weeks for work its trainees knew as Remotasks, labelling things such as views from robot vacuum cleaners and lidar scans of motorcycles; the boot camps in Kenya were later closed, The Verge reported.20 Jun 2023Reported by an outlet
SamaSamaWhat it doesSama, a data annotation company whose largest offices are in East Africa, labels training data for robots from assembly lines to autonomous mobile robots, and long-range lidar and camera data for driver assistance and self-driving cars.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
SamaSamaScaleSama says its hiring model, aimed at women and young people below the international poverty line in East Africa, has connected more than 13,000 people to digital work.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
SamaTechTrendsKEScaleAfter leaving content moderation, Sama said in September 2023 it would hire and train more than 2,000 young Kenyans in computer vision labelling, joining a Nairobi team of over 3,000 staff, TechTrendsKE reported.11 Sep 2023Reported by an outlet
SamaBusiness Daily (Kenya)Where it worksBusiness Daily described a young Sama (then Samasource) annotator in Kenya marking parked cars on a European street to teach driverless cars to recognise them, and reported operations in Kampala (about 100 people) and at Gulu University in northern Uganda, beside its main Nairobi office.2 Oct 2019Reported by an outlet
SamaBusiness Daily (Kenya)How it works and who can joinTo join Sama, Business Daily reported, a recruit needs fluent written and spoken English and basic computer skills; recruits are trained in office tools, web research and the basics of AI data annotation, then on specific projects.2 Oct 2019Reported by an outlet
Vision LabTechsauceWhere it worksVision Lab, a San Francisco robot data startup that films real production work in partner factories, says it works with more than 2,000 factories across Asia and Africa, mainly in China and India.15 Jun 2026Stated by the company or an official page
Vision LabTechsauceClientsVision Lab, which raised US$6 million, counts three of the 'Magnificent Seven' tech companies among its clients, and its partner factories have earned more than US$1 million in data licensing revenue in total, Techsauce reports.15 Jun 2026Reported by an outlet
Welo DataWelo Data (Lever job post)PayWelo Data pays US$3.50 an hour for freelance annotators who describe robot manipulation videos (Project Cursa), a remote role whose listed locations include Cairo, Egypt as well as countries in Asia and Latin America.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
Welo DataWelo Data (Lever job post)PayWelo Data pays US$4.03 an hour for remote quality-control reviewers of its robot manipulation video annotations, a role that also lists Cairo, Egypt.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
Welo DataWelo Data (Lever job post)Where it worksWelo Data's robot annotation work has annotators watch short robot manipulation videos from three synchronised cameras and write structured descriptions of each action; it says it has more than 500,000 contributors in over 100 countries.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
ZiplineZipline (Greenhouse job post)Where it worksZipline says it will open more than 20 new drone distribution sites across Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire over the next two years and launch its first Precision Delivery network in Kigali, Rwanda.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
ZiplineZipline (Greenhouse job post)How it works and who can joinZipline hires early-career graduates (0 to 2 years' experience) in Côte d'Ivoire as dual operators who pack orders and launch and recover its delivery drones, on a one-year full-time contract with 24/7 shifts after training at the Zipline Academy.as of 28 Oct 2026Stated by the company or an official page
ZiplineSemaforClientsCôte d'Ivoire's government will pay Zipline's operating costs for eight years under a deal in which Zipline builds nine more drone facilities beside the one it has run there since 2023, Semafor reports.22 Sep 2026Reported by an outlet
ZiplineTechCabalWhere it worksZipline's Nigeria country director told TechCabal it plans 12 more drone distribution centres in Nigeria, growing from three hubs (Kaduna, Cross River and Bayelsa states) to 15, and already serves over 1,300 health facilities.28 May 2026Stated by the company or an official page
ZiplineTechCabalPolicyAs of May 2026, every drone operator in Nigeria must obtain an End-User Certificate from the Office of the National Security Adviser before approaching the civil aviation authority for a permit, TechCabal reports in its story on Zipline's Nigerian expansion.28 May 2026Reported by an outlet
ZiplineZiplineScaleZipline says its expanded nationwide drone network in Rwanda, with a third hub in Karongi District beside Muhanga and Kayonza, will cover over 11 million people and support about 350 local jobs.4 Feb 2026Stated by the company or an official page
ZiplineZiplineFundingZipline will receive up to US$150 million from the US State Department, released as African governments sign expansion contracts, with African countries paying up to US$400 million in usage fees.25 Nov 2025Stated by the company or an official page

Base: All 53 facts. "Reported" means an outlet reports it from sources the company has not confirmed.

Amounts stay in the currency and form their source gives; nothing is converted or totalled.

Credit: compiled by RobotTraining.jobs Research, Robot Data Collection Companies in Africa: Who Hires in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, What It Pays and Who Can Join, checked 28 Oct 2026.

Robotics labs · Fleet operators · Data vendors · Research teams

Buy the data behind this report

This report sums up records we gather ourselves, day after day:

  • 1,392 robot training roles followed, history included

    Every role on 99 employer job boards, read each day since 12 Sep 2026: its pay, its place, and the first and last day it was up.

  • 471 apply clicks over 28 days

    Which robot training roles people really apply to, by kind of work, pay and place. The clicks happen here, so no one else can count them.

  • 25 sourced industry datasets

    Funding, revenue, deals, fleets, deployments and prices across the robot training industry, each record linked to the publication it comes from.

On offer

  • The raw records

    Every robot training role we track: title, employer, place, kind of work, pay as stated, and the days it was first and last open.

  • A regular feed

    New and closed roles every week or month, as file drops or through the data endpoints.

  • A custom cut

    Any figure here by country, city, kind of work, vehicle, employer or date, or your own hiring benchmarked against the market.

Need the people behind this data for your own robots? (you contract them yourself) or (we deliver the robot data).

How it was measured

Company job postings and pages, Zipline and Sama press and job posts, the Ego4D paper, The Globe and Mail, MIT Technology Review, The Verge, Rest of World, Semafor, TechCabal, Techweez, Legit.ng, Business Daily, TechTrendsKE and Techsauce, each linked with a verbatim quote kept in the dataset. Each row carries a link to its publication and gives the number exactly as published, with no estimates or conversions. A note under every figure says what it covers.

Approved hour
An hour of footage that passes the buyer's review; most recording apps pay only for these, so time spent on rejected video is unpaid.
Egocentric video
First-person video recorded from a phone or camera worn on the head, showing the hands at work; robotics companies buy it to teach robots everyday tasks.
Lidar annotation
Labelling the 3D point clouds a self-driving car's laser scanner records, box by box and frame by frame; much of it has been done in Nairobi.

Limits of this data

  • Built only from public sources. Anything never announced or reported is absent, and private-company figures are whatever the company or the press said, unaudited.
  • Most pay figures are one posting's rate or one worker's reported earnings, in their own currency and unit; they are not measured averages.
  • Some reporting dates from 2019 to 2024 (Sama, CloudFactory, Remotasks, Ego4D) and Perle's and Digital Divide Data's postings state no rate; each record carries its own date. No teleoperation or remote assistance hub in Africa could be sourced.

Collection and classification of listings are explained on the methodology page. Freshness, completeness and consistency are tested daily in the data quality report.

Monthly editions

The live page shows the dataset as of its latest review, and new events join it once they are made public. Every finished month also gets its own edition, locked two days after month end, so a number quoted from it stays fixed.

  • Live page (you are here)Latest review

Quoting this report

You may quote, chart or republish these figures under CC BY 4.0, provided you link back to this page. The records change only when their sources are reviewed again, and the date of the last review is above. For a figure that stays put, quote a monthly edition, or note the date you accessed this page.

Citation

RobotTraining.jobs (2026). Robot Data Collection Companies in Africa: Who Hires in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, What It Pays and Who Can Join (live data, 2 Oct 2019 to 28 Oct 2026). https://robottraining.jobs/research/robot-data-collection-companies-africa (accessed 29 Oct 2026)

BibTeX

@misc{robottrainingjobs_robot_data_collection_companies_africa_live,
  author = {{RobotTraining.jobs}},
  title = {Robot Data Collection Companies in Africa: Who Hires in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, What It Pays and Who Can Join (live data, 2 Oct 2019 to 28 Oct 2026)},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://robottraining.jobs/research/robot-data-collection-companies-africa}},
  note = {Accessed 29 Oct 2026},
}
Files: every figure in one CSV (a row per value) or as JSON, emailed to your work address.Other open data: datasets and API

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