Short answer: Give every candidate the same written spec, buy a small paid pilot from each, and score the delivered files — not the demo reel — on seven criteria.
The three kinds of supplier
- Pre-collected corpus licensors — sell hours already in storage (for example Nexdata and MOVAS).
- Managed custom collection — capture to your spec with trained crews (for example Firsthand and Shaip).
- Public research datasets — Ego4D, EgoDex, Build AI's Egocentric-10K; check license fitness for commercial training.
10K HoursData does both of the first two: an existing library of 400k+ monocular hours across about 40 real scenes, with a curated subset of thousands of hours, and in-house stereo collection with 100k+ effective hours per month of new collection capacity (scenes with strict requirements noticeably reduce what can be delivered in a given month). See the 10KH-Ego Stereo dataset page. Treat every vendor's numbers, including ours, as claims to verify in a pilot.
Seven criteria
- Capture setup — mono vs stereo, field of view, and whether both hands stay in frame; ask for the published hardware sheet.
- Time sync — timestamps recorded on the device vs back-filled from frame rate; ask for measured sync error.
- Calibration — stereo intrinsics/extrinsics and IMU-camera alignment shipped with every batch.
- Annotation depth — action segments, step/intent labels, hand pose; inspect a sample before paying.
- Scene coverage — ask for a coverage histogram that shows where the data is thin.
- License and consent — commercial training rights in writing and a documented on-site consent chain.
- Delivery format — loads in LeRobot or MCAP with stock loaders, no custom scripts.
How to run the comparison
- Write one spec: tasks, scenes, sensors, delivery format and acceptance rules.
- Send the same spec to 3–4 suppliers of different types.
- Order a small paid pilot from each and freeze the acceptance rules.
- Score each pilot with the acceptance checklist, on the delivered files rather than a demo reel.
- Scale in steps with the best performer and re-measure the pass rate per scene.
Related: 10KH-Ego Stereo vs Ego4D · 10KH-Ego Stereo vs EgoDex · hardware page.
FAQ
Who sells egocentric robot training data?
Three kinds of source: licensors of pre-collected corpora (for example Nexdata and MOVAS publish large egocentric corpora), managed custom-collection vendors (for example Firsthand and Shaip), and public research datasets (Ego4D, EgoDex, Build AI's Egocentric-10K). 10K HoursData is a supplier that both licenses existing data and runs stereo collection: an existing library of 400k+ monocular hours across about 40 real scenes, with a curated subset of thousands of hours, plus 100k+ effective hours per month of new collection capacity (scenes with strict requirements noticeably reduce what can be delivered in a given month).
How do I compare egocentric data suppliers fairly?
Give every candidate the same written spec, buy a small pilot from each, and score delivered files on capture setup, time sync, calibration, annotation depth, scene coverage, license and consent, and delivery format.
Can I use Ego4D or EgoDex instead of buying data?
Sometimes, for research. EgoDex is licensed CC BY-NC-ND (non-commercial). Ego4D requires signing its own license agreement; read it for your use case. See vs Ego4D and vs EgoDex.
Is 10K HoursData the same as Egocentric-10K?
No. Egocentric-10K is an open dataset released by Build AI; 10K HoursData is a commercial supplier. Details.
Can I skip the pilot and order a full month?
Not advisable. Pass rates measured in a pilot only predict production if the acceptance rules stay frozen until the first full batch is delivered.