Robotics Intern, Prototyping and Research Operations

Toyota Research Institute; Cambridge (MA); Hybrid; USD 55,000 - 80,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid time off

Holiday pay

Sick time

Job summary

Toyota Research Institute in Massachusetts invites a paid 12-week internship mixing hands-on prototyping and research operations. You’ll help maintain labs, support fabrication requests, and coordinate events with Research Operations Engineers, gaining exposure to robotics, AI, and systems engineering.

The role is hybrid in-office, requires an engineering, robotics, or computer science student at junior/senior or master's level, and a safety‑first mindset.

Qualifications

• Engineering, Robotics, or Computer Science student (undergrad junior or senior, or a master’s student).
• Driven to learn new skills and become adept at new systems, processes, and tools.
• Experience with rapid prototyping tools (3D printers, laser cutters, hand tools, etc.) and time spent in a lab environment designing, prototyping, and manufacturing components and assemblies.
• Experience in creative and novel mechanical, electrical or software design work and employing rapid prototyping techniques to improve your iterative design process.
• A safety‑first mentality.
• Familiarity with UNIX/Linux systems.
• Experience executing and summarizing system tests and results.

Responsibilities

• Maintaining and improving the lab: organize tasks, fulfill fabrication requests, maintain equipment, and improve workflow.
• Support operations projects: collaborate with Research Operations Engineers to design and coordinate events, improve data collection processes, and maintain testing documentation.

Skills

Engineering Robotics CS student

Lab safety mindset

UNIX/Linux familiarity

Rapid prototyping

Communications skills

Education

Undergrad junior/senior or Master’s student

Tools

3D printers

Laser cutters

Hand tools

CAD (OnShape)

Job description

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world‑class team advancing the state of the art in AI, robotics, driving, and material sciences.

This is a paid 12‑week internship opportunity and is a hybrid, in‑office role.

Here’s a glimpse into the Internship experience from some of our TRI interns!

The Team

The Prototyping and Research Operations (PROps) team supports and operationalizes TRI’s robotics research to succeed at scale in laboratory and deployment environments. We work across engineering and operations disciplines to develop robot hardware and testing setups, as well as operate and deploy robotic research systems to collect data for researchers. Our team administers the two prototyping laboratories within TRI and uses those facilities to prototype research hardware.

The Internship

The intern who joins our team will have the opportunity to contribute to the work of our various research support projects and the daily tasks that keep our researchers productive by:

• Maintaining and improving the lab: This will include working with the lab manager on organizational tasks, fulfilling fabrication requests, maintaining and fixing the manufacturing equipment and robot systems, and improving lab workflow and tooling, allowing for more efficient use of the lab space.

• Supporting our operations projects: This will require our intern to collaborate with Research Operations Engineers to design and coordinate events, improve data collection processes, and maintain testing and deployment documentation to support the research and engineering teams.

Qualifications

• Engineering, Robotics, or Computer Science student (undergrad junior or senior, or a master’s student).

• Driven to learn new skills and become adept at new systems, processes, and tools.

• Experience with rapid prototyping tools (3D printers, laser cutters, hand tools, etc.. ) and time spent in a lab environment designing, prototyping, and manufacturing components and assemblies.

• Experience in creative and novel mechanical, electrical or software design work and employing rapid prototyping techniques to improve your iterative design process.

• A safety‑first mentality.

• Familiarity with UNIX/Linux systems.

• Experience executing and summarizing system tests and results.

Bonus Qualifications

• Electronic assembly skills like crimping, soldering, and wire routing.

• Experience with large scale data collection efforts.

• Computer building/commissioning skills such as GPU, Operating System or power supply installation.

• Familiarity with hand tools & hardware. Any service, repair or design work with complex mechanical systems is a plus.

• Familiarity with CAD (preferably OnShape) software.

• Basic machining skills on a lathe or mill.

• Experience designing for small‑scale contract manufacturing and assembly.

• Understand software development processes and the tooling required to enact them, such as version control (e.g., Git) and CI/ CD (e.g., Jenkins).

• Working knowledge of Asana and Gsuite.

• Demonstrable communication skills, written and verbal, including utilization of design documents and systems drawings.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $40 and $58/hour for Massachusetts‑based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, a candidate's experience, skills, job‑related knowledge, and market location. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, and paid time off benefits (including holiday pay and sick time). Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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TRI is fueled by a diverse and inclusive community of people with unique backgrounds, education and life experiences. We are dedicated to fostering an innovative and collaborative environment by living the values that are an essential part of our culture. We believe diversity makes us stronger and are proud to provide Equal Employment Opportunity for all, without regard to an applicant’s race, color, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, religion, marital status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state or local laws.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment.