Robotics Intern, World Foundation Models

Toyota Research Institute Inc.; Los Altos (CA); Hybrid; USD 62,000 - 90,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) invites promising researchers for a 12-week Research Intern internship in California, blending in-office and hybrid arrangements.

The World Foundation Models team (WFM) in Robotics seeks interns in areas like Video Generation, World Modeling, World-Action Models, 4D Reconstruction, and embodied applications, with the aim to advance foundational models and robot understanding.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Robotics, or related fields.
• Publication or desire to publish at high-impact conferences/journals (e.g., CoRL, ICLR, NeurIPS, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICML, UAI, AISTATS, AAAI, TMLR, RSS, ICRA, IROS, RA-L, etc.) on some of the aforementioned topics.
• Passionate about large scale challenges in ML and CV grounded in physical systems, especially in the space of robotics.
• Proficiency with one or more coding languages and systems, preferably Python, Unix, and a Deep Learning framework (e.g., PyTorch).
• Ability to collaborate with other researchers and engineers of the WFM team, and, more broadly, the Robotics division to invent and develop interesting research ideas.
• A reliable teammate who loves to think big, go deeper, and deliver with integrity.

Responsibilities

• Conduct daring research in Computer Vision that solves open problems of high theoretical and practical value, and evaluate solutions on real-world benchmarks and systems, with a focus on robotics.
• Push the boundaries of knowledge and the state-of-the-art in Visual Systems for Robotics.
• Partner with a multidisciplinary team, including other research scientists and engineers across the WFM team, the Robotics division, TRI, Toyota, and our university partners.
• Stay up to date on state-of-the-art Machine Learning ideas and software.
• Present results in verbal and written communications at international conferences, internally, and via open-source contributions to the community.

Skills

Python

Unix

Deep learning

Education

Ph.D. in ML/Robotics or related field

Tools

PyTorch

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 World Foundation Models (WFM) team in the Robotics division is looking for research interns for the summer of 2027 in a variety of areas such as Video Generation, World Modeling, World-Action Models, 4D Reconstruction, Learning from Egocentric Videos, Multi-Modal Foundation Models, Multi-View Geometry, and Data Augmentation, with a primary focus on on embodied applications. We are aiming to make progress on some of the hardest scientific challenges around the deployment of robots in unstructured environments, by leveraging data from different sources and modalities, and learning transferable priors grounded in physical properties found in the real-world. Our mission is to develop foundational models capable of understanding how the world works, and in doing so predict possible future states from available information and adapt to new environments and circumstances.

As a Research Intern, you will work with a multidisciplinary team proposing, conducting, and transferring pioneering research on the intersection between Computer Vision and Robotics. You will use large amounts of data from different sources and modalities, and train large-scale foundation models aimed at solving open problems, work towards publications at top academic venues, and test your ideas in simulators as well as in the real world.

Responsibilities

• Conduct daring research in Computer Vision that solves open problems of high theoretical and practical value, and evaluate solutions on real-world benchmarks and systems, with a focus on robotics.
• Push the boundaries of knowledge and the state-of-the-art in Visual Systems for Robotics.
• Partner with a multidisciplinary team, including other research scientists and engineers across the WFM team, the Robotics division, TRI, Toyota, and our university partners.
• Stay up to date on state-of-the-art Machine Learning ideas and software.
• Present results in verbal and written communications at international conferences, internally, and via open-source contributions to the community.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Robotics, or related fields.
• Publication or desire to publish at high-impact conferences/journals (e.g., CoRL, ICLR, NeurIPS, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICML, UAI, AISTATS, AAAI, TMLR, RSS, ICRA, IROS, RA-L, etc.) on some of the aforementioned topics.
• Passionate about large scale challenges in ML and CV grounded in physical systems, especially in the space of robotics.
• Proficiency with one or more coding languages and systems, preferably Python, Unix, and a Deep Learning framework (e.g., PyTorch).
• Ability to collaborate with other researchers and engineers of the WFM team, and, more broadly, the Robotics division to invent and develop interesting research ideas.
• A reliable teammate who loves to think big, go deeper, and deliver with integrity.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-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.

Please reference this Candidate Privacy Notice to inform you of the categories of personal information that we collect from individuals who inquire about and/or apply to work for Toyota Research Institute, Inc. or its subsidiaries, including Toyota A.I. Ventures GP, L.P., and the purposes for which we use such personal information.

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.