Robotics Intern, Human-Machine Interaction Research

Responsibilities

• Design and develop prototypes that enable embodied AI agents to support people collaborating on physical tasks.
• Leverage multimodal AI to understand human activities, task progress, and collaborative interactions.
• Develop and evaluate interaction strategies that enable embodied AI agents to adapt their assistance to different contexts and collaborative situations.
• Integrate AI models and interaction logic with robotic hardware to enable real-time human-robot interaction.
• Design and conduct user studies to investigate how AI assistance influences human collaboration, task performance, and user experience.
• Collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate system effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of research scientists and engineers across Toyota Research Institute.
• Communicate research findings through presentations and written reports, including potential submissions to leading international research venues.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Robotics, Machine Learning, Cognitive Science, or a related field.
• Experience developing and prototyping interactive or embodied AI systems, such as interactive robots, multimodal assistants, or conversational agents.
• Familiarity with human-robot interaction (HRI), human-AI interaction, or human behavior modeling.
• Experience with experimental design, user studies, and quantitative or qualitative data analysis.
• Ability to work independently, iterate quickly, and communicate research findings clearly.

Pay and benefits

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.

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