Research Scientist - World-Action Foundation Model, Robotics

The Robot Age; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Intuition in Sunnyvale is hiring research scientists for its AI research group, focusing on world-action foundation models for robotics and embodied AI. This is an in-office Sunnyvale role bridging robotics, autonomy, simulation, and data.

You will build experiments, connect model behavior to physical AI performance, and turn research into infrastructure for real robotic systems. The team emphasizes rigorous experimentation and practical deployment in embodied robotics.

Qualifications

• Research strength in machine learning, robotics, embodied AI, or foundation models
• Ability to design and evaluate experiments for action-generating systems
• Publication, implementation, or applied research evidence in relevant areas
• Comfort working in a highly technical in-office research environment

Responsibilities

• Research world-action model approaches for robots and autonomous systems
• Build experiments that connect model behavior to physical AI performance
• Work with a research group spanning robotics, autonomy, simulation, and data
• Turn research results into infrastructure that can support real robotic systems

Skills

ML research

Robotics

Embodied AI

Foundation models

Job description

What the role actually is

Applied Intuition is hiring research scientists for its AI research group, with this posting focused on world-action foundation models for robotics. The team frames the work around next-generation physical AI, especially end-to-end autonomous driving and robotic generalists.

This is an in-office Sunnyvale research role. It is relevant to the board because the work is about how embodied systems represent the world, choose actions, and generalize across tasks.

What you would work on

• Research world-action model approaches for robots and autonomous systems
• Build experiments that connect model behavior to physical AI performance
• Work with a research group spanning robotics, autonomy, simulation, and data
• Turn research results into infrastructure that can support real robotic systems

What they are asking for

• Research strength in machine learning, robotics, embodied AI, or foundation models
• Ability to design and evaluate experiments for action-generating systems
• Publication, implementation, or applied research evidence in relevant areas
• Comfort working in a highly technical in-office research environment

Why this one is worth a look

World models are becoming a central bet in robot learning. Applied's angle is worth tracking because it is trying to connect that research to infrastructure for moving machines, not only to a lab demo or a single robot form factor.