Senior Robotics Research Engineer

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team advancing the state of the art in AI, robotics, driving, and material sciences.

The Mission
Make general-purpose robots a reality.

The Challenge
We envision a future where robots assist with household chores and cooking, aid the older population in maintaining their independence, and enable people to spend more time on the activities they enjoy most. To achieve this, robots must be able to operate reliably in complex, unstructured environments. Our mission is to answer the question “What will it take to create truly general-purpose robots that can accomplish a wide variety of tasks in settings like human homes with minimal human supervision?”. We believe that the answer lies in cultivating large-scale datasets of physical interaction from a variety of sources and building on the latest advances in machine learning to learn general-purpose robot behaviors from this data.

The Team
Our goal is to redefine the field of robotic manipulation, enabling long-horizon dexterous behaviors to be efficiently instructed, learned, and improved over time in diverse, real-world environments.
The team possesses deep, multi-functional expertise across hardware, simulation, perception, controls, and machine learning. We measure our success in terms of the development of fundamental capabilities, as well as the research impact achieved through open-source software and publications. Our north star is fundamental technological advancement in building robots that can flexibly perform a wide variety of tasks in diverse environments with minimal human supervision. Join us and let’s make general-purpose robots a reality.

Some of our ongoing work is highlighted here.

The Opportunity
We’re looking for a motivated engineer with a “make it happen” mentality. The ideal candidate is able to work independently when needed, but also works well as part of a larger integrated group at the innovative of pioneering robotics and machine learning. If our mission of revolutionizing robotics through machine learning resonates with you, get in touch about how we can create the next generation of AI-powered capable robots together!

Responsibilities :
• Research and contribute to the design of novel robotic systems through software development, encompassing control, perception, and planning, applying both classical and learned methods.
• Enable research into robot foundation models by working with mechanical/electrical engineers, technicians, and researchers to build and integrate new enabling robotics technologies.
• Work with robotics research scientists toward applying and integrating research toward more robust, perceptive, and scalable systems.
• Design and integrate creative system solutions; combining actuation, structure, and sensing, as well as new mechanisms and sensory for human-scale manipulation and dexterity.

Qualifications :
• B.S. or equivalent experience or higher in an engineering-related field and 6+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Strong software engineering skills; comfortable working in a mixed Python and C++ codebase.
• The ability to design and deploy integrated systems that complement and bring to bear advanced software and learning algorithms.
• Deep multi-functional understanding of all levels of a robotic system including both hardware and software, with experience operating robots.
• Experience with a full-stack approach to robotics, including familiarity with electromechanical systems and actuation, as well as practical software design.
• Familiarity with physical/embodied AI methods and training machine-learned policies.
• Experience with inter- and in-process communication, parallelism, logging, networking and data systems, and common methods.
• Familiarity with classical motion planning and robotic control.

Bonus Qualifications :
• A track record of relevant publications in top international conferences (RSS, NeuRIPS, ICML, ICLR, CoRL, ICRA, IROS, …)
• Background or familiarity with some of the following: motion control and actuation, whole-body control, robot teleoperation methods, common communication protocols, research robotic arms/systems, visual perception and depth sensors, machine learning, robotic simulation, force and tactile sensing systems, haptic interfaces.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $162,000 and $243,000/year for Massachusetts-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, business or organizational needs, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) eligibility, paid time off benefits (including vacation, sick time, and parental leave), and an annual cash bonus structure. Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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