Co-Op, Robot Perception & State Estimation

Lila Sciences • Cambridge, MA

7d

About The Position

As a Co-Op on the Production Robotics team at Lila Sciences, you will help build algorithms and software that enable robots to determine their location and interpret their surroundings, supporting reliable scientific workflows inside AI Science Factories (AISFs). The team develops the state estimation, perception, and testing infrastructure used by general-purpose robotic skills. The work combines estimation, computer vision, and robotics software, including improving mobile-base position and motion estimates, building camera-based detection and localization for AprilTags and lab instruments, and strengthening simulation-based testing and CI. You will write production-quality software, apply mathematics to sensor data, and debug behavior on physical robots, working alongside robotics engineers, AI researchers, and software engineers with day-to-day support from the Production Robotics team. Your software will run in production laboratory environments and help accelerate experiments.

The position requires availability for the full spring co-op term. Candidates should be pursuing a Master's degree, or be a strong senior-year Bachelor's student, in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, with a focus on controls or estimation. The role is suited to candidates with programming experience in Python and/or C++, familiarity with state estimation and sensor fusion, strong foundations in linear algebra and probability, and comfort with Git and Linux. Experience with ROS 2, computer vision, simulation testing, CI, physical systems, localization, SLAM, or robot control is beneficial.

Requirements

• In-progress Master's degree (preferred) or strong senior-year Bachelor's studies in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, with a controls/estimation leaning.
• Proficiency in Python and/or C++, with coursework or project experience writing well-tested code.
• Familiarity with state estimation and sensor fusion, such as Kalman filtering.
• Strong foundation in linear algebra and probability.
• Comfort with Git and Linux development environments.
• Strong communication skills and ability to work effectively across a multidisciplinary team.
• Availability for the full spring co-op term.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with ROS 2 (Jazzy preferred) or another robotics framework.
• Hands-on experience with camera systems and computer vision, such as OpenCV, AprilTags, or camera calibration.
• Experience with simulation-based testing and CI, such as Gazebo or GitHub Actions.
• Experience integrating software with sensors, actuators, or other physical systems.
• Coursework or projects in localization, SLAM, or robot control.

Responsibilities

• Fuse multi-sensor data to improve mobile-base state estimation.
• Build camera-based AprilTag and instrument detection and localization for robot manipulation and navigation.
• Develop new robot capabilities in ROS 2 (Jazzy).
• Expand simulation-based tests and CI pipelines so changes are validated before deployment on hardware.
• Evaluate estimation and perception performance on real robot data and contribute fixes to the codebase.
• Ship production code alongside robotics, software, and AI engineers.
• Document algorithms, test approaches, and integration patterns for the team.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern