Research Scientist
VinMotion
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Job summary
VinMotion is seeking a Research Scientist, Robotics & Embodied AI, to conduct cutting-edge research and develop novel learning and control algorithms for humanoid robots.
You will work at the intersection of robot learning, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, multimodal foundation models, motion intelligence, perception, and human-robot interaction with opportunities to validate research directly on real robotic platforms.
Qualifications
- Ph.D. or Master’s degree in Robotics, CS, AI, ML, EE, ME or related field.
- Strong research background in at least one: Humanoid Robotics, Manipulation, Locomotion/Whole-Body Control, Motion Planning, Computer Vision/3D Perception, Human-Robot Interaction.
- Strong programming skills in Python and/or C++.
- Hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
Responsibilities
- Conduct cutting-edge research in robot learning, RL, imitation learning, multimodal AI, embodied intelligence, motion planning, control, perception, or HRI.
- Develop novel algorithms for humanoid robots to perceive, reason, learn, communicate and perform complex tasks.
- Research learning-based approaches for whole-body control, locomotion, manipulation, skill acquisition, motion generation, and real-time adaptation.
- Explore Vision-Language-Action approaches connecting perception, language, reasoning and actions.
- Translate research ideas into working robotic systems and validate on real hardware.
- Collaborate with hardware, perception, control, simulation and software teams; publish at leading venues.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
- 10741 Walker Street, Suite 500, Cypress, CA 90630
VinMotion is building the next generation of general-purpose humanoid robots and advancing the frontier of Physical AI. Our mission is to develop intelligent robotic systems that can perceive, reason, learn, communicate, and act naturally in complex real-world environments. [ vinmotion.net ] , [ vinmotion.net ]
We are bringing together world-class researchers and engineers to turn breakthroughs in AI and robotics into capable, scalable humanoid systems.
We are seeking a Research Scientist, Robotics & Embodied AI to conduct cutting-edge research and develop novel learning and control algorithms for humanoid robots.
You will work at the intersection of robot learning, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, multimodal foundation models, motion intelligence, perception, and human-robot interaction, with the opportunity to validate research directly on real robotic platforms.
Rather than limiting the role to a single research area, we welcome candidates with deep expertise in one or more areas relevant to Physical AI and humanoid robotics. This broader scope reflects VinMotion's existing US research activities across AI Motion and AI Communication.
Conduct cutting-edge research in one or more areas of robot learning, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, generative models, multimodal AI, embodied intelligence, motion planning, control, perception, or human-robot interaction.
Develop novel algorithms that enable humanoid robots to perceive, reason, learn, communicate, and perform complex physical tasks.
Research learning-based approaches for whole-body control, locomotion, manipulation, skill acquisition, motion generation, and real-time adaptation.
Explore multimodal foundation models and Vision-Language-Action (VLA) approaches that connect perception, language, reasoning, and physical actions.
Develop methods for transferring policies and learned representations from simulation and large-scale datasets to real robots.
Improve robustness and generalization under real-world uncertainty, environmental changes, and embodiment differences.
These areas extend the current VinMotion US research focus on RL, imitation learning, whole-body control, MPC, Sim2Real, multimodal AI, computer vision, NLP, and Physical AI.
Design experiments and evaluate algorithms in simulation and on physical humanoid robotic platforms.
Collaborate with robotics engineers to translate research prototypes into robust real-time systems.
Work closely with hardware, perception, control, simulation, and software teams.
Develop evaluation methodologies and benchmarks for robot intelligence and behavior.
Optimize algorithms for real-time deployment and resource-constrained robotic computing platforms.
VinMotion's current US Motion positions explicitly emphasize moving research from simulation into real robotic systems through Sim2Real, real-time execution, edge computing, and collaboration across AI, control, hardware, and software teams.
Research Leadership & External Collaboration
Identify new research directions with the potential to meaningfully advance humanoid robotics.
Collaborate with leading universities, laboratories, and research organizations.
Publish high-impact research at leading conferences and journals.
Represent VinMotion within the global robotics and AI research community.
Mentor research engineers, interns, and junior researchers.
The existing AI Communication Research Scientist role specifically expects publication at major venues including NeurIPS, ACL, ICLR, ICASSP, and CVPR, while the Motion Research Scientist position includes collaboration with universities and research institutes.
Ph.D. or Master's degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
Strong research background in at least one of:
Humanoid Robotics
Manipulation
Locomotion / Whole-Body Control
Motion Planning
Computer Vision / 3D Perception
Human-Robot Interaction
Strong programming skills in Python and/or C++.
Hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
Ability to translate research ideas into working robotic systems.
Strong analytical, experimental, and communication skills.
The current VinMotion US Research Scientist roles ask for a Master's or Ph.D., approximately 3+ years of relevant research experience, and experience with modern ML and robotics frameworks.
Strong publication record at top-tier venues such as ICRA, IROS, RSS, CoRL, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, CVPR, ECCV, ICCV, ACL, or related conferences.
Experience deploying algorithms on real robotic systems.
Experience with humanoid robots, dexterous manipulation, or legged robots.
Experience with ROS/ROS2, MuJoCo, Isaac Sim/Isaac Gym, Gazebo, or other robotics simulation platforms.
Experience with Sim2Real, reinforcement learning at scale, foundation models, or large-scale robot datasets.
Experience optimizing AI models for real-time inference.
- 10741 Walker Street, Suite 500, Cypress, CA 90630
- 10741 Walker Street, Suite 500, Cypress, CA 90630
- 10741 Walker Street, Suite 500, Cypress, CA 90630
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