Robot Perception Engineer Intern

FuturHand Robotics; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 28,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Direct mentorship from CV Lead

Hands-on robotics platform experience

Potential path to full-time offer

Job summary

FuturHand Robotics in Pittsburgh is seeking a Robot Perception Engineer Intern to join the perception team and work with the Computer Vision Lead on real robotic platform perception challenges. You’ll take ownership of a well-scoped project across sensor data collection, processing, and 3D perception with guidance, and you’ll have room to tackle open-ended problems as you ramp up.

This role offers direct mentorship, collaboration with a small, highly technical team, and a potential path to a

Qualifications

• Pursuing BS/MS/PhD in CV, robotics, CS or related field.
• Strong fundamentals in computer vision with 3D perception/pose estimation.
• Proficiency in Python and/or C++.
• Experience with PyTorch and OpenCV.
• Experience with data collection, labeling and cleaning.
• Interest in perception within a robotic system.

Responsibilities

• Support perception pipeline components such as sensor integration and object detection.
• Develop tooling for data pipelines, evaluation scripts, debugging/visualization, and metrics.
• Run experiments to test robustness across lighting and scene variation.
• Collaborate with CV Lead and robotics teams to connect perception to control.
• Explore sensor fusion, temporal filtering, and data-driven methods to improve robustness.
• Document findings and contribute to the team's understanding.

Skills

Computer vision fundamentals

Python / C++ programming

Data collection / labeling

Perception in robotics

3D perception / pose estimation

Education

BS/MS/PhD in computer vision, robotics, CS

Tools

PyTorch

OpenCV

ROS 2

Job description

About FuturHand Robotics

FuturHand Robotics is a Carnegie Mellon University spin-off developing next-generation dexterous robotic systems that transform how robots interact with the world. We build on cutting-edge research in dexterous hands and manipulation to solve real-world problems, developing dexterous bimanual robots that operate reliably outside controlled lab environments.

The Role

We’re looking for a Robot Perception Engineer Intern to join our perception team and work directly with our Computer Vision Lead. You’ll get hands-on experience with real perception problems on a physical robotic platform – not synthetic benchmarks or toy datasets. This is a great opportunity to see how vision systems are built, tested, and deployed in a production robotics stack, and to contribute meaningfully to a small, fast-moving team.

You’ll take ownership of a well-scoped project or set of tasks within the broader perception pipeline spanning sensor data collection & processing, object detection, pose estimation, or scene understanding with guidance and mentorship from the CV Lead. As you ramp up, you’ll have room to take on more open-ended problems.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Support development of components of the perception pipeline, such as sensor integration, object detection, pose estimation, or state tracking
• Help build and improve tooling for perception: data pipelines, evaluation scripts, debugging/visualization tools, and performance metrics
• Run experiments to test robustness across variation in lighting, object geometry, and scene complexity
• Collaborate with the CV Lead and broader manipulation/controls teams to understand how perception outputs are used downstream
• Explore techniques such as sensor fusion, temporal filtering, or data-driven methods to improve system robustness
• Document findings and contribute to the team’s understanding of what works and what doesn’t

What We’re Looking For

• Currently pursuing a BS (upper-class/senior) or MS/PhD in computer vision, robotics, computer science, or a related field
• Solid fundamentals in computer vision, backed by coursework or project experience in 3D perception, object detection, or pose estimation
• Comfortable programming in Python and/or C++
• Familiarity with common CV/ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, OpenCV)
• Familiarity with data collection, data cleaning, and data labeling
• Curiosity about how perception fits into a larger robotic system, and willingness to learn how design choices affect downstream performance

Nice to have:

• Prior project or coursework experience with robotics perception for manipulation tasks
• Familiarity with ROS 2
• Exposure to depth sensors, RGB-D data, or 3D geometry
• Prior experience working with camera hardware and camera calibration
• Experience building with open-source models
• Exposure to sim-to-real transfer, domain randomization, or data augmentation
• Experience deploying models on embedded or edge hardware (e.g., Jetson)

Logistics

• Positions available: One or more interns
• Terms:
  • Spring 2027 — January/February through May/June
  • Summer 2027 — May/June through August/September
• Location: Pittsburgh, PA (on-site)

What We Offer

• Direct mentorship from our Computer Vision Lead and close collaboration with a small, highly technical team
• Real ownership of a project that contributes to a novel robotic platform, not busywork
• Exposure to the full perception stack — from sensors to deployed, real-world behavior
• Competitive internship compensation
• Potential path to a full-time offer for strong performers