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Data Collection — User Guide

Data Collection lets coworkers record short videos of everyday tasks (washing dishes, wiping a table, etc.) on a propped-up phone. Those videos are then reviewed and approved to train robots. There are three people in the loop, and a short guide for each below:

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1. Create a campaign (Admin)

A campaign is a batch of recording tasks. Creating one also creates the dataset that will hold the videos — you don’t need to make anything in advance.
  1. Open Django Admin and go to the Datasets list.
  2. Click the “Create Data Collection Campaign…” button at the top of the page.
  3. Fill in the form:
    • Owner — the account the dataset belongs to (start typing to search; coworkers are hidden here).
    • Organization (optional) — set this if the campaign belongs to a team rather than a single person.
    • Dataset name — a clear name, e.g. “Kitchen tasks — June”.
    • Number of recordings — how many video tasks to create.
    • Duration (seconds) — how long each clip should be.
    • Audio — turn on if the recording should capture sound.
    • Instructions — what you want the coworker to do on camera (shown to them before recording).
    • Orientation — portrait or landscape.
    • Industry — used to group the campaign on the coworker’s home screen.
    • Project name — a label for the work.
    • Publish — leave on to make the tasks immediately available to coworkers.
  4. Click Save. The tasks are created and (if Publish was on) appear in the Arcade app.
Tip: each recording is its own task, so “Number of recordings = 10” gives 10 separate videos to collect, and later 10 separate items to review.

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2. Record a video (Coworker)

Recording happens in the Arcade app on a phone (it uses the camera, so it’s mobile-only — it won’t work in a web browser).
  1. Open Arcade. On the home screen, find the Data Collection card and tap it.
  2. Tap to start the session. You’ll see a brief screen with the task instructions and the recording length.
  3. Prop your phone so the task area is in frame, then tap “I’m ready”.
    • Allow camera (and microphone, if audio is on) access if asked.
  4. A short countdown runs, then recording starts. Perform the task.
  5. Recording stops automatically at the set length (or you can stop early).
  6. Preview your clip. If it’s good, continue to upload; otherwise re-record.
  7. The clip uploads — a progress bar shows how far along it is. Keep the app open until it finishes.
  8. When you see “Uploaded successfully”, you’re done. Tap Done to return home.
Tip: upload speed depends on your internet connection and video length. A longer or higher-quality clip takes longer to upload — that’s normal.

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3. Review submissions (Reviewer)

Reviewing happens in Mission Control (web).
  1. Open the dataset for the campaign and go to the Capture Submissions page.
  2. You’ll see a list of recordings, each with a small live preview, the submitter, duration, and whether it has audio.
  3. Click a recording to open the player. Watch it, then decide:
    • Accept — the recording is good.
    • Reject — the recording has a problem. You must pick a reason (below) and can add a note.
  4. After you decide, the next recording loads automatically so you can keep going.

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Keyboard shortcuts (faster reviewing)

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Reject reasons

Pick the closest one when rejecting:
  • Hands not visible — the action isn’t clearly in frame.
  • Too short — the clip is shorter than needed.
  • Too long — the clip runs longer than needed.
  • Wrong task — the recording shows a different activity than requested.
  • Bad framing — the camera angle/position cuts off the important part.
  • Phone moved — the phone shifted during recording.
  • Audio missing — sound was required but the clip has none.
A rejected recording can be re-recorded later; rejecting does not delete anything, it just sends it back.

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Quick troubleshooting