Co-Op, Robot Perception & State Estimation

Lila Sciences • Cambridge, MA

8d

About The Position

As a Co-Op on the Production Robotics team at Lila Sciences, you will help build the algorithms and software that enable robots to determine their position and interpret their surroundings, supporting reliable scientific workflows inside AI Science Factories (AISFs). The team develops state estimation, perception, and testing infrastructure used by general-purpose robotic skills.

The work combines estimation, computer vision, and robotics software. You will help improve mobile-base position and motion estimates, develop camera-based detection and localization of AprilTags and lab instruments, and strengthen simulation-based testing and continuous integration (CI) to validate changes before they reach hardware. The role includes writing production-quality software, applying mathematical methods to real sensor data, and debugging behavior on physical robots.

You will work with robotics engineers, AI researchers, and software engineers, with day-to-day support from the Production Robotics team. Your software will run in production lab environments and help accelerate experimentation at Lila Sciences. The co-op requires availability for the full spring term.

Requirements

• Be pursuing a Master's degree (preferred) or be a strong senior-year Bachelor's student in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, with a controls or estimation focus.
• Have proficiency in Python and/or C++, with coursework or project experience writing well-tested code.
• Be familiar with state estimation and sensor fusion, such as Kalman filtering.
• Have a strong foundation in linear algebra and probability.
• Be comfortable with Git and Linux development environments.
• Have strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively across a multidisciplinary team.
• Be available 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
• Education Level: No Education Listed