Research Scientist/Engineer, Robot Foundation Models (Large Behavior Models)

.At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we're on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We're developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we've built a world-class team in Robotics, Human-Centered AI, Human Interactive Driving, and Energy & Materials.The MissionMake general-purpose robots a reality.The ChallengeWe envision a future where robots assist with household chores and cooking, aid the elderly in maintaining their independence, and enable people to spend more time on the activities they enjoy most. To achieve this, robots need to be able to operate reliably in messy, unstructured environments. Our mission is to answer the question "What will it take to create truly general-purpose robots that can accomplish a wide variety of tasks in settings like human homes with minimal human supervision?". We believe that the answer lies in cultivating large-scale datasets of physical interaction from a variety of sources and building on the latest advances in machine learning to learn general purpose robot behaviors from this data.The TeamOur goal is to revolutionize the field of robotic manipulation, enabling long-horizon dexterous behaviors to be efficiently taught, learned, and improved over time in diverse, real world environments.Our team has deep cross-functional expertise across simulation, perception, controls, and machine learning, and we measure our success in terms of fundamental capabilities development, as well as research impact via open-source software and publications. Our north star is fundamental technological advancement in building robots which can flexibly perform a wide variety of tasks in diverse environments with minimal human supervision. Come join us and let's make general-purpose robots a reality.We operate a fleet of robots, and robot-embodied teaching and deployment is a key part of our strategy. Some of our ongoing work is highlighted here.The OpportunityWe're looking for a driven research scientist or research engineer with a strong background in embodied machine learning and a "make it happen" mentality. The ideal candidate is able to operate independently when needed, but works well as part of a larger integrated group at the cutting edge of state-of-the-art robotics and machine learning. Experience with robots or other embodied systems (such as autonomous vehicles) is strongly preferred, particularly in the manipulation domain.If our mission of revolutionizing robotics through machine learning resonates with you, get in touch and let's talk about how we can create the next generation of AI-powered capable robots together.ResponsibilitiesWork as part of a dynamic, closely-knit research team building general-purpose robot foundation models.Implement, extend, and create state-of-the-art methods for robot behavior learning from a mixture of interactive embodied data and online data sources such as text, images, and video