Robotics Research, Humanoid Manipulation Intern (Spring 2027) | PhD

What You Will Get To Do

Advance Humanoid Manipulation Research

• Design, implement, and evaluate manipulation strategies for humanoid robots across diverse tasks.
• Explore loco-manipulation problems that integrate perception, planning, and control.
• Work towards super-human dexterity, developing systems that outperform human teleoperation.

Contribute to the Research Community

• Work towards publishing a paper in a leading robotics conference/journal
• Work closely with other researchers, both internal and external.
• Present your work at Field at robotic conferences

Contribute to Robotics Foundation Model Development

• Support data collection pipelines used to train robotics foundation models.
• Work with embodiment-agnostic representations to enable transfer across robot platforms.
• Collaborate with researchers to integrate manipulation data into scalable learning frameworks.

Collaborate Across Disciplines

• Work with teleoperators and field teams to refine interfaces and improve manipulation outcomes.
• Partner closely with researchers and engineers to align experiments with broader autonomy goals.
• Engage with mechanical and electrical engineers on hardware integration and system bring-up.

What You Have

• Current PhD student in Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, AI/ML, or a closely related field.
• Research experience in robotic manipulation, loco-manipulation, or related robotics domains.
• Strong foundation in robot kinematics, dynamics, and control.
• Proficiency in Python and/or C++, with experience using robotics or ML tooling.
• Experience designing experiments and evaluating results on robotic systems (simulation or hardware).
• Curiosity, initiative, and a strong interest in embodied intelligence and real-world robotics.
• Publications in leading robotics journals/conferences (ICRA, IROS, CORL, RA-L, T-RO, etc.)

The Extras That Set You Apart

• Prior experience working with humanoid robots or dexterous robotic hands.
• Background in learning-based manipulation, including imitation learning or reinforcement learning.
• Hands-on experience running experiments on real robot hardware.
• Familiarity with ROS or ROS 2.
• Publications, preprints, or open-source contributions in robotics or AI.
• Interest in bridging cutting-edge research with practical, field-ready robotic systems.

Be Part of the Next Robotics Revolution

Solving problems at this scale takes a team as unique as the mission. We are looking for people who push beyond conventional approaches, enjoy tackling tough and ambiguous questions, and bring interdisciplinary perspective. Our success depends on exceptional AI researchers and engineers, as well as strong software developers, product designers, field deployment experts, and communicators who can turn breakthroughs into real capability.

We are headquartered in Irvine, Southern California, with teammates across the US and around the world. Join us to shape the future of embodied intelligence as part of a fun, close-knit team building systems that work in the real world.