NORTHSTAROperate
Data collection
How Northstar operators record and grade episodes on your robot, what an episode contains, and where the recordings are stored.
During a session, the operator can record episodes. An episode is one recording of the robot doing a task, from the moment the operator starts recording to the moment they stop.
You do not need to do anything on the robot to record. What you need on site is the same as for any session. See Teleoperation.
How an episode is recorded
- Northstar assigns your robot a task to collect. The task name is stored with every episode.
- The operator connects and takes control.
- The operator starts the recording from the controller, performs the task, and stops the recording.
- The operator grades the episode.
- The episode is uploaded to storage. This happens in the background, and the operator can start the next episode straight away.
Northstar staff can also start and stop a recording from the monitoring page, for example while an automated policy is driving the robot and no operator is in a headset.
A recording that runs past a length limit is stopped automatically. So is a recording whose operator disconnects and does not come back within a few seconds.
What an episode contains
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Camera views | One video file per camera on the robot, with a timestamp for every frame. |
| Arm state | The measured joint positions of each arm over time. |
| Commands | The joint and gripper commands that the robot applied to each arm over time. |
| Depth | Depth frames, only if your robot is configured with depth cameras. |
| Details | The task name, your account, the robot, the time, who started the recording (an operator or Northstar staff), whether an operator or a policy was driving when it started, and the grade. |
The state and command samples carry timestamps, so they can be lined up with the video.
Only what the robot's cameras see is recorded. There is no audio.
How episodes are graded
When a recording stops, the operator picks one of these:
| Grade | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Good | A clean demonstration. |
| Medium | Usable, but not perfect. |
| Bad | Kept, but not usable. |
| Delete | The recording is removed. This is for a take that should not be kept at all. |
The grade is stored with the episode. An operator can change the grade later when reviewing the episodes. If an operator leaves the headset without grading, the episode is kept with no grade until someone grades it.
Where recordings are stored
Recordings are stored in Northstar's cloud storage, filed under your account, then by robot, by task and by the time the recording started. An episode stays filed under the account the robot belonged to when it was recorded.
Live camera video that is not part of a recording is not stored.
The console does not list or play recordings. To get your recordings, or to ask how long they are kept, ask Northstar.
Recording and your hours
Depending on your contract, your billable hours may be counted from recording time. The usage page in the console says which measure applies to you. See Account and usage.