RL Research Scientist for Robotic Manipulation

MindOn; Singapore; On-site; SGD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

MindOn is building general-purpose intelligence for robots and seeks a Research Scientist focused on reinforcement learning to develop RL post-training and optimization for robot manipulation models. You will extend pretrained models like VLA and WAM, using task feedback, interaction data, and reward signals to improve reliable task completion in real environments.

The role emphasizes rigorous experiments and close collaboration with control and software teams to deploy validated improvements on

Qualifications

• A passion for Embodied AI.
• Proficiency with Python and PyTorch; ability to review and validate code via tests.
• Master’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Robotics, AI, Automation or related field; or equivalent practical experience.
• Knowledge of RL fine-tuning methods for VLA, WAM, and multimodal models and ability to reproduce and improve training workflows.
• Familiarity with OpenVLA, π0, Diffusion Policy and related models; autoregressive, diffusion and flow-matching action generation.

Responsibilities

• Develop RL fine-tuning and post-training methods for VLA, WAM, and multimodal models to improve task success and stability.
• Design task rewards, success criteria, and evaluation metrics for sparse rewards and long-horizon tasks.
• Combine demonstrations, offline data, and online interactions into effective training workflows.
• Build data collection, policy updates, and evaluation pipelines to reduce real-robot interaction costs.
• Analyze failures, distribution shift, and training instability while preserving pretrained capabilities.
• Collaborate with robot control, software, and data teams on deployment and validation.
• Build reproducible experiments and evaluations to measure improvements in task success and generalization.

Skills

Embodied AI

Python

PyTorch

Debugging

Education

Master's degree or higher in CS/Robotics/AI/Automation

Tools

OpenVLA

π0

Diffusion Policy

SimpleVLA-RL

ConRFT

VLA-RFT

Job description

MindOn is building general-purpose intelligence for robots and seeks a Research Scientist focused on reinforcement learning to develop RL post-training and optimization for robot manipulation models. You will extend pretrained models like VLA and WAM, using task feedback, interaction data, and reward signals to improve reliable task completion in real environments.

The role emphasizes rigorous experiments and close collaboration with control and software teams to deploy validated improvements on