Pokemon Go has made you wander the streets to capture virtual creatures, but your passion hid a real mission! Find out how your billions of photos are now helping guide future delivery robots in our cities.
You thought you were just hunting rare Pokemon on your smartphone for fun? Wrong! Behind this “free” entertainment lies a monumental data collection. The game’s developer, Niantic, has just revealed a major partnership with the company Coco Robotics. Around 30 billion photos and location data have been shared. Why these images?
Simply to allow autonomous robots to navigate urban chaos. GPS is too imprecise for these machines to anticipate their routes. They need to “see” the locations through your snapshots to avoid obstacles and navigate. By searching for your favorite specimens, you have visually mapped the world for them.
That’s where the trick lies: turning millions of players into volunteer cartographers! If the game managed to get a generation moving, it was primarily used as a tool. Niantic has successfully turned your enthusiasm into an extremely lucrative database. In other words, you have done the fieldwork unknowingly, and others are reaping the rewards.
So, the next time a robot comes to deliver a package, you will probably have a silent thought. Yes, because it’s a little (and even a lot in reality) thanks to your “hunter” efforts that these machines are making money. Your passion has been monetized, proving that nothing is ever completely free online.
