Robotics Intern, Human-Robot Interaction
About The Position
Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is seeking an intern researcher to join its Robotics Research division in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The intern will study how people without robotics expertise expect to collaborate with robots carrying out real-world tasks, with particular attention to how people communicate preferences through visual, auditory, tactile, and other modalities. The role involves planning and conducting a human-robot interaction study, potentially including a longitudinal component to examine how user expectations change over repeated interactions with robot behaviors. Study findings may lead to peer-reviewed conference papers or journal articles, and the intern will present findings to colleagues and the wider TRI organization. The intern will join a collaborative research team working to help people gain independence, access, and mobility. This is a paid, 12-week hybrid internship with an in-office component.
Requirements
- Pursuing an MS or PhD in Human-Robot Interaction, Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- At least 2 years of experience as an academic Human-Robot Interaction researcher.
- Strong software engineering skills; C++ and Python are preferred.
- Experience analyzing and debugging autonomous robotic systems.
- Experience deploying and/or field-servicing prototype technologies.
- Experience conducting user studies involving real robot hardware.
- Experience writing peer-reviewed conference papers or journal articles as lead author.
- Desire to contribute to the robotics community through publications and open-source code.
- Passion for robotics that helps people and has real-world, large-scale impact.
Nice To Haves
- Familiarity with ROS, ROS 2, or similar middleware.
- Familiarity with robotic simulators such as Drake, MuJoCo, or Bullet.
- Experience with behavior cloning and related imitation-learning methods.
- Experience with interactive machine-learning techniques that adapt robot policies based on human feedback or corrections.
- Experience with qualitative and quantitative user research, including developing study materials, preparing IRB applications, facilitating and interviewing participants, managing personally identifiable information (PII), and conducting statistical analysis.
- Experience with UX design principles and high-fidelity prototyping.
- System integration experience on complex, open-ended, multifunctional projects.
Responsibilities
- Plan and execute a human-robot interaction study.
- Investigate how non-roboticist users expect to collaborate with robots performing real-world tasks.
- Study how users communicate preferences through multimodal methods, such as visual, auditory, and tactile communication.
- Potentially incorporate a longitudinal component to explore how user expectations adapt over multiple interactions with robot behaviors.
- Share study findings through peer-reviewed publications where appropriate and presentations to colleagues and the wider TRI organization.
Benefits
- Medical insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Paid time off, including holiday pay and sick time
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What This Job Offers
Career Level
Intern
