iMerit vs Sama: which robotics annotation partner should label your sensor data?
Answer in brief: iMerit and Sama anchor this directory's sensor and LiDAR annotation category. They don't collect new demonstrations. They label the camera, LiDAR and radar data your robots already record. Sama stands out with a written quality guarantee: SamaAssure starts at 95% and can go up to 99.5%. It also loads up to 14 sensors and offers model validation, which suits warehouse and manufacturing robotics. iMerit stands out with breadth: 6,000+ annotators across 10+ delivery centers, robotics work from household to aerial delivery, and a published Carbon Robotics case study of nearly 1 million annotated images.
Top pick for industrial and warehouse robots: Sama. A contractual quality floor, SLAM-augmented 3D tooling and model validation from one vendor.
Top pick for high-volume, multi-domain perception: iMerit.
Independent research based on each company's public pages, read on 2026-11-09. No hands-on testing. Figures are vendor claims. See all categories in the robotics data companies directory.
Annotation partners compared
| Dimension | iMerit | Sama |
|---|---|---|
| Workforce | 6,000+ annotators, 10+ delivery centers | In-house expert annotators; 15 years in enterprise AI data |
| Robotics domains named | Household, medical, logistics, agriculture, hospitality, delivery, warehouse, industrial automation, aerial delivery | AMRs, cobots, palletization/depalletization, quality control, package inspection, infrastructure monitoring |
| 3D / multi-sensor | LiDAR + camera fusion, 3D point clouds, 2D/3D boxes | Up to 14 sensors (camera, LiDAR, radar, ultrasonic); SLAM, accumulated point clouds, ego-motion compensation |
| Other label types | Panoptic and semantic segmentation, polygons, object tracking | Object tracking over medium-length sequences (several minutes) |
| Quality promise | QA pipelines with expert review | SamaAssure: 95% written guarantee, up to 99.5% |
| Beyond labeling | Custom tools, plugins and workflows | Model validation (false positive/negative review); SamaHub project space; API, CLI, webhooks |
| Certifications stated | ISO 27001:2013, SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA | Certified B Corp (recertified) |
| Published robotics proof | Carbon Robotics: nearly 1M images; 61% faster completion on the most complex scenes | PolyPerception: millions of waste objects labeled at a 99% quality score |
| Pricing | Custom quote | Project-scoped quote |
Sama's edge: quality you can put in a contract
Most annotation vendors promise high quality. Sama puts a number in writing for every project. For a palletizing system, that matters. Sama's own example is a dark line that could be a gap between two boxes or between two flaps of one box, and a model that learns the wrong reading fails on the dock. Add model validation, where experts flag false positives and negatives and recommend what data to collect next, and Sama covers the loop from labels to results.
iMerit's edge: scale across every robot type
iMerit's robotics practice covers more environments than any other annotation-only vendor in our directory, from indoor cleaning robots to GNSS-denied aerial navigation. Its Carbon Robotics engagement shows sustained scale: the system grew to recognize hundreds of plant types, and tooling improvements cut completion time on the hardest scenes by 61%. Its security credentials, including ISO 27001, SOC 2 and HIPAA, help in medical and regulated settings.
When to pick which
- Sama for manufacturing, logistics and warehouse perception where a written accuracy floor and model validation matter.
- iMerit for large perception backlogs across agriculture, delivery, medical or aerial robots, or where HIPAA or ISO 27001 is required.
- Want to label in-house instead? for multi-sensor labeling software (Core plan equivalent to $2.67 per labeling hour). For driving-style platforms, for managed, licensed or hybrid annotation.
Pricing model
Neither iMerit nor Sama publishes a rate card. Both quote after scoping your sensors, label types and volumes. Ask each to price the same sample sequence so you can compare. Segments.ai is the rare annotation option here with a published price point. See our pricing guide.
FAQ
Do iMerit or Sama collect robot demonstrations?
Their robotics pages describe annotation and validation only, not teleoperation or demonstration collection. For collection, see our teleoperation collection comparison.
What does SamaAssure guarantee?
Sama says every project starts with a 95% written quality guarantee, which can be raised to as high as 99.5% regardless of complexity or scale.
Which handles more sensors?
Sama states support for up to 14 sensors, including cameras, LiDAR, radar and ultrasonic. iMerit describes multi-sensor LiDAR-plus-camera fusion but does not state a sensor count.
Keep exploring
iMerit review · Sama review · Segments.ai review · Kognic review · How to choose · Directory home. For annotation vendors outside robotics, see trainingdatacompanies.com.
Sources
- imerit.ai/domains/robotics
- sama.com/robotics-manufacturing
- segments.ai/pricing
- kognic.com
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