Short answer
A live-site recording protocol sets what is recorded, who is told, how sessions run, what stops a recording and how data leaves the site. Cover site preparation, notice to everyone in the camera's range, a session script, a daily checklist, stop rules for safety and privacy, and a handover log. It reduces rework; it does not replace legal review.
What a protocol is for
Recording on a working site differs from recording in a studio. Staff are working, customers may be present, production schedules cannot stop for a retake, and the site owner carries safety and confidentiality obligations. A written protocol turns these into explicit rules that the collection team, the site and the buyer all accept before the first take.
This page is the operational layer. The legal and consent questions behind it sit in the procurement cluster, starting with worker consent and identifiable people in workplace recordings, and the choice between recording real operations and arranged tasks is in staged vs live operation recording. This is not legal advice.
Why a protocol matters for data quality too
A protocol is not only a compliance document. Most data defects in site recordings are procedural: a camera bumped between sessions, a clip with no task label, a demonstrator who forgot to say when a step started, a day's recordings stored on an unlabeled card. A checklist prevents the same mistakes recurring across sites. Large collection efforts document this kind of process: Ego4D describes consenting participants and de-identification procedures as part of its collection design (Grauman et al., 2021), which shows that the process around recording is part of the dataset.
Protocol components
| Component | What it settles | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Scope sheet | Tasks, areas, hours, camera positions; what is out of frame | Buyer, site |
| Site risk review | Hazards, PPE, restricted zones, mounting approval | Site, collection team |
| Privacy assessment | Who may be recorded, notice, retention, access | Site, collection team, counsel |
| Notice and signage | How people learn recording is happening | Site |
| Session script | Order of events, briefing, prompts, labeling | Collection team |
| Stop rules | Conditions that pause or end recording | Site, collection team |
| Quality checks | Per-take and per-day checks | Collection team |
| Handover and retention | How data moves, who stores what, when it is deleted | Collection team, buyer |
Privacy and monitoring considerations
Regulators publish guidance relevant to recording at work. The European Data Protection Board's guidelines on video devices set out how personal data from video should be considered (EDPB, 2020). The UK Information Commissioner's Office monitoring-workers guidance, published in October 2023, recommends a data protection impact assessment for monitoring likely to result in a high risk to workers' rights and freedoms (ICO, 2023). These are examples from particular jurisdictions, not a statement of US law or of what applies to your project.
Practical questions for a protocol:
- Who will be in view, and have they been told in advance, in a form they can understand?
- Can anyone decline without penalty, and how is that handled on the day?
- Are customers, patients, minors, visitors or contractors in the area?
- Which areas, screens and documents are always out of frame?
- Who can access raw footage, and for how long?
Session flow
A typical session, adapted by the collection team, has four phases.
- Before arrival. Confirm the scope sheet, notice, schedule and equipment checklist. Send the site the list of what will be recorded.
- Setup. Walk the area with the site contact. Mount cameras, calibrate, check angles, mark no-record zones, run a test take and review it on site.
- Recording. Brief demonstrators, state the stop rules, announce start and stop (verbally or by marker), log each take with ID, task and site. Check one in every few takes immediately.
- Close-out. Back up media, label drives, record any incidents, reconcile take logs with files, confirm the next day's plan.
For rare conditions that need deliberate capture, see capturing rare events and edge cases.
Stop rules
Define in advance when recording stops or the footage is set aside:
- Anyone in view asks not to be recorded.
- An unplanned person enters a no-record zone, such as a customer or minor.
- A safety event occurs. Stop the take, and keep footage of incidents out of the dataset unless the site and buyer have agreed otherwise.
- Sensitive content appears: screens with personal data, paperwork, badges.
- A camera shifts or calibration drifts beyond tolerance.
- The task departs from the scope sheet.
State who decides, and make clear the demonstrator can stop without justification.
Illustrative on-site checklist
# Illustrative only - adapt per site and with counsel
before_session:
- scope_sheet_signed: site + buyer + collection team
- notice_delivered: staff briefed [date]; signage posted at entrances
- no_record_zones_marked: yes
- mounting_approved: site safety lead
setup:
- calibration_done: record target file id
- test_take_reviewed_on_site: yes
- clocks_synced_across_devices: yes
per_take:
- take_id, site_017, task_id, demonstrator_id (pseudonymous), start/end
- outcome_flag: success | failure | interrupted
- incident_flag: none | noted
end_of_day:
- media_backed_up_twice: yes
- take_log_matches_files: yes
- incidents_reported: to site contact
- unusable_takes_marked, not deleted until buyer review
handover:
- checksum_manifest: provided
- retention_and_deletion_dates: per license
Quality and acceptance
A protocol should produce evidence the buyer can inspect: take logs, calibration files, incident logs, notice records and checksum manifests. Tie these to your in-collection quality control plan and the demonstration video acceptance criteria. A pilot collection is a practical way to test the protocol before committing to many sites.
Limitations
- A protocol cannot make footage representative. Live sites are chosen for access, not randomness.
- Recording changes behavior. People often slow down, speed up or avoid shortcuts when watched.
- Stop rules reduce volume. Plan for that.
- Who performs the task matters as much as where; see recruiting and briefing demonstrators.
- Site rules vary. A protocol for one site needs review at each new site.
- Redacting in post is costly and does not by itself resolve consent questions; see redaction in demonstration video.
Questions to ask collection teams
- Can I see a protocol or checklist from a previous site engagement, with names removed?
- How do you notify and brief everyone in range, and how do you handle objections?
- What are your stop rules for safety and privacy events?
- How are no-record zones marked and verified?
- Who holds raw media on site and in transit, and how is it encrypted?
- What do you log per take and per day?
- How do you report incidents to the site and to us?
- What happens to unusable or excluded takes?
Discuss your requirements
If you need new recordings on working sites, describe the tasks, site types and permitted uses to SourceX. The site describes a separate physical-world path for new recordings of hands-on work coordinated with businesses, where each opportunity has its own requirements. SourceX reviews the requirement and follows up about potential sources; a request does not guarantee a match. Start from the humanoid training data guide and the workplace task demonstration hub.
Describe the workplace demonstration data your robotics project needs
Sources
- Guidelines 3/2019 on processing of personal data through video devices — regulator guidance on video devices.
- Employment practices and data protection: monitoring workers — UK guidance on monitoring workers and DPIAs.
- Ego4D: Around the World in 3,000 Hours of Egocentric Video — collection with consenting participants and de-identification.