Tactile AI/Robotics Research Engineer - Special Projects

Apple Inc.; Santa Clara, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 325,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical and dental care

Retirement benefits

Employee stock programs / RSUs

Tuition reimbursement

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Apple Inc. in Santa Clara, CA seeks a Tactile AI Research Engineer - Special Projects (Robotics) to advance tactile-enabled robotic systems. The role blends mechatronics, controls, haptics, and ML, demanding hands-on work that spans software and hardware to push perception and control in real-world devices.

Join a world-class team delivering impact across Apple, with opportunities to publish and collaborate while building state-of-the-art tactile policies and simulations.

Qualifications

• 3+ years deploying tactile-based policies in robotics.
• 6+ years in robotics and machine learning.
• Proficiency in Python and C++ for multi-language systems.
• Experience with PyTorch and TensorFlow.
• Strong software engineering practices and tested code.
• Analytical, troubleshooting and collaboration skills.
• Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD in Engineering, Robotics, CS, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Implement and train state-of-the-art ML models for tactile-enabled robotics.
• Optimize and deploy models on physical systems and address sim-to-real gaps.
• Curate and generate training data from simulation and real-world demos.
• Establish evaluation metrics and testing protocols for policy performance.
• Collaborate across disciplines to advance impact for stakeholders.
• Document research findings and developments for internal and external publications.

Skills

Python programming

C++ programming

Machine learning

Deep learning

Robotics

Analytical thinking

Multidisciplinary collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s/Master’s/PhD in Engineering or CS or Robotics

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

MuJoCo

IsaacLab

Drake

Job description

Apple Inc. in Santa Clara, CA seeks a Tactile AI Research Engineer - Special Projects (Robotics) to advance tactile-enabled robotic systems. The role blends mechatronics, controls, haptics, and ML, demanding hands-on work that spans software and hardware to push perception and control in real-world devices.

Join a world-class team delivering impact across Apple, with opportunities to publish and collaborate while building state-of-the-art tactile policies and simulations.