Robotics Intern, Human-Robot Interaction
Toyota Research Institute
This job at a glance
- Who can apply
- 2 years+ of experience
- Must know
- AuditingMachine learningStatistics
- Nice to have
- PythonC++
- Work
- On-site in Cambridge · internship
- Pay
- Not stated by the employer.
- Skill demand
- Python29%Machine learning20%Statistics8%Auditing4%of 99 similar entry-level jobs posted in the US this week
- Listed
- Nov 5, 2026 · still open
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About the Role
Robotics Intern, Human-Robot Interaction at Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is a paid 12-week internship opportunity. This is a hybrid, in-office role based in Cambridge, MA.
Key Responsibilities
- Focus on understanding how general population users expect to collaborate with robots performing real-world tasks.
- Focus on communicating preferences through multimodal modes of communication (e.g., visual, auditory, tactile, etc.).
- Plan and execute a human-robot interaction study.
- Incorporate a longitudinal element to the project, exploring how user expectations may adapt over multiple interactions with robot behaviors.
- Present study findings to colleagues and the larger TRI organization.
Requirements & Tech Stack
- Strong software engineering skills (C++ / Python preferred).
- Experience analyzing/debugging autonomous robotic systems.
- Experience with deploying and/or field-servicing prototype technologies.
- Experience conducting user studies involving real robot hardware.
- Experience with writing peer-reviewed conference papers or journal articles as lead author.
- Desire to contribute back to the robotics community with publications and open source code.
- Passion for seeing robotics help humans and have a real-world, large-scale impact.
Bonus Qualifications
- Familiarity with original ROS/ROS 2 or similar middleware.
- Familiarity with robotic simulators including Drake, Mujoco, Bullet, etc.
- Experience with behavior cloning and related imitation learning methods.
- Experience with interactive machine learning techniques that adapt robot policies given human feedback/corrections.
- Experience with qualitative and quantitative user research, including developing user study materials, IRB applications, facilitation and interviewing, management of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and statistical analysis.
- Experience with UX design principles and high-fidelity prototyping.
- System integration experience around complex, open-ended, and multi-functional projects.
Qualifications
- Pursuing MS or PhD degree in Human-Robot Interaction, Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field or equivalent practical experience.
- 2+ years experience as an academic Human-Robot Interaction researcher.