Robotics Research, Robot Learning & Manipulation Intern (Spring, Summer, & Fall 2027)
Required skills
- Master’s
- Robotics
- Electrical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- AI/ML
- robotic manipulation
- robot learning
- embodied AI
- research track record
- open-source track record
Nice to have
- first-author publications
- RSS
- CoRL
- ICRA
- IROS
- NeurIPS
Role summary
FieldAI's Irvine team is seeking Master's and PhD students for Robotics Research, Robot Learning & Manipulation Internships (Spring, Summer, & Fall 2027). This role focuses on embodied AI and robotic manipulation, aiming to develop reliable, field-ready AI systems. Interns will investigate robot task performance across diverse scenarios, address practical challenges like uncertainty and failure recovery, design experiments, integrate research on physical robots, and document findings. Qualifications include current enrollment in a relevant field, research experience in robotic manipulation or robot learning, a strong track record in research or open-source projects, proficiency in Python and/or C++, and foundational knowledge in robotics, machine learning, and experimental design.
About the Internship
We are offering Spring, Summer, and Fall 2027 research internships in the Irvine office for Master’s and PhD students advancing robotic manipulation.
You will investigate how robots can perform useful physical tasks reliably across diverse objects, environments, and robot platforms. Working closely with researchers and engineers, you will own a focused research project and help translate promising ideas into capabilities that can be tested on hardware and improved through real deployment experience.
Research directions and methods will be shaped by your expertise and the problems we encounter in the field. The goal is to produce original research with measurable impact on what our robots can accomplish.
What We Offer
Real deployment problems: Work on manipulation challenges grounded in customer use cases and operational needs, with opportunities to evaluate beyond controlled laboratory settings.
Physical robots and hardware: Develop and validate your work on robotic systems, including humanoids, mobile manipulators, and arm-equipped quadrupeds.
Research ownership: Shape a focused project, propose your approach, and carry it through implementation, experimentation, and hardware validation.
Deployment feedback: Use observations and failure cases from real operation to guide research and improve reliability.
Close technical collaboration: Work with researchers and engineers across robot learning, perception, control, hardware, and deployment.
Research contributions: Pursue work suitable for leading conferences and journals, with opportunities to release code, datasets, or other research artifacts.
What You Will Get To Do
Develop manipulation capabilities that address meaningful physical tasks in real environments.
Investigate how skills transfer across objects, tasks, environments, and robot platforms.
Address practical challenges such as uncertainty, contact, changing conditions, and failure recovery.
Design experiments that measure task success, generalization, and reliability under realistic operating conditions.
Integrate and validate research on physical robots, collaborating with engineering teams to address system constraints.
Document findings, present results, and contribute to publications or reusable research tools.
What You Have
Current master’s or PhD enrollment in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, AI/ML, or a closely related field.
Research experience in robotic manipulation, robot learning, embodied AI, or a related area.
A strong research or open-source track record, demonstrated through substantive publications, research software, or technically rigorous projects.
Clear ownership of original research or technical development, including implementation and evaluation.
Strong foundations in robotics, machine learning, and experimental design.
Proficiency in Python and/or C++.
Ability to work independently, communicate findings clearly, and collaborate across research and engineering disciplines.
The Extras That Set You Apart
First-author publications at venues such as RSS, CoRL, ICRA, IROS, NeurIPS, ICLR, or ICML, or journals such as RA-L, T-RO, or IJRR.
Significant contributions to open-source robotics or machine learning projects with demonstrated adoption.
Hands-on experience taking research from an initial idea to reliable operation on physical robots.
Experience evaluating robotic systems outside controlled laboratory conditions.
Public research code, datasets, or robot demonstrations showing technical depth and measurable results.
Experience with robot integration, sensing, control, or data collection infrastructure.
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