Platform Robotics Engineer, Large Behavior Models

Toyota Research Institute; Los Altos (CA); On-site; USD 144,000 - 216,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a pioneering team focused on making general-purpose robots a reality! This role as a Robotics Engineer involves designing and deploying innovative robotic systems, enhancing their capabilities through software development, and collaborating with a diverse team of experts. You'll work on exciting challenges that aim to revolutionize robotic manipulation and improve human-robot interaction in everyday environments. If you have a passion for robotics and a desire to contribute to groundbreaking advancements, this opportunity is perfect for you!

Benefits

401(k) eligibility

Paid time off

Annual cash bonus structure

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in robotics development and deployment.
• Strong software engineering skills in Python and C++.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the design and deployment of robotic systems.
• Develop tooling for stable and scalable robotic platform deployments.
• Integrate and test new sensors with engineers and researchers.

Skills

Python

C++

Robotics

Software Engineering

Machine Learning

Motion Planning

Robotic Control

Electromechanical Systems

Education

B.S. in Engineering

Tools

Robotic Simulation

Visual Perception Sensors

Tactile Sensing Systems

Job description

The Mission

Make general-purpose robots a reality via large-scale embodied AI.

The Challenge

We envision a future where robots assist with household chores and cooking, aid the elderly in maintaining their independence, and enable people to spend more time on the activities they enjoy most. To achieve this, robots need to be able to operate reliably in messy, 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?”. To answer this, we are gathering large datasets of physical interaction from a variety of sources (including robots and people) and training large generative foundation models on this physical interaction data along with language, video, audio, and other rich modalities.

The Team

Our goal is to revolutionize the field of robotic manipulation, enabling long-horizon dexterous behaviors to be efficiently instructed, learned, and improved over time in real world environments. Our team has deep cross-functional expertise across simulation, perception, controls, language, vision, multimodal learning, and generative modeling. Success is measured by the advancement of robot capabilities. 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. Come join us and let’s make general-purpose robots a reality.

We operate a fleet of robots, and robot-embodied teaching and deployment are key parts of our strategy. Some of our previous work is highlighted here.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a driven Robotics Engineer who has experience developing and deploying robotic systems.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the design and deployment of novel robotic systems through software development.
• Develop tooling to enable stable, performant, and scalable robotic platform deployments.
• Enable research into robot foundation models by working with mechanical/electrical engineers, technicians, and researchers to integrate, test, and deploy new sensors.
• Design and integrate creative system solutions; combining actuation, structure, and sensing, as well as mechanisms and sensory for human-scale manipulation.
• Improve on software/hardware systems and tooling toward more detailed operation of robots.

Qualifications

• B.S. in an engineering-related field and 4+ years of relevant industry experience.
• Strong software engineering skills and comfortable working with Python and C++ codebases.
• Experience with a full-stack approach to robotics, including familiarity with electromechanical systems and actuation, as well as practical software design.
• The ability to craft and deploy integrated systems that complement and bring to bear software and learning algorithms.
• Experience with inter- and in-process communication, parallelism, logging, networking and data systems, and common methods.
• Multi-functional understanding of many levels of a robotic system including both hardware and software, with experience operating robots.
• Exposure to classical motion planning and robotic control, and familiarity with machine-learned policies.
• Familiarity with some of the following: motion control and actuation, whole-body control, robot teleoperation methods, common communication protocols, research robotic arms/platforms, 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$144,000 and 216,000/year for California-based roles; however, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Note that TRI offers a generous benefits package (including 401(k) eligibility and various paid time off benefits, such as vacation, sick time, and parental leave) and an annual cash bonus structure. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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