Research Scientist, Robotics

Who You Are:

As a Research Scientist on our team, you'll have the unique opportunity to develop and investigate core research problems in foundation models and skills for robotics, contribute to the development of completely open data sets, benchmarks, and models, and experiment with robots in the real world.

We are looking for applicants interested in robotics, with a focus on core techniques in robot manipulation, large scale training in simulated environments, vision-language-action models, and skill learning. International candidates are welcome to apply. Pay is competitive, and visa sponsorship is available.

We collaborate frequently with researchers on other Ai2 teams focused on embodied AI, computer vision, and natural language processing, among others. Our main office has close ties and unique access to researchers at the University of Washington, only 1.5 miles away. Researchers excited about such internal and external collaborations are encouraged to apply.

Research Scientists in the Robotics team will work on multiple exciting research projects in the above areas but can also contribute and engage in a variety of other activities critical to our research and mission. These include opportunities to lead select projects, mentor interns and pre-doctoral candidates, author and present scientific papers, and collaborate with researchers at other organizations including universities.

Who We Are:

Ai2's Robotics team is led by Dieter Fox. The team aims to develop the simulation environments, data generation, and benchmarking skills that enable a rigorous and scientific investigation of the core building blocks and scaling properties of robot foundation models. The insights gained from these experiments will inform the development of truly capable foundation models for robots operating in the real world.

As a Research Scientist on the Robotics team, you will have the opportunity to work in a variety of research areas including:

• Robotics - Enable agents that safely navigate, manipulate objects, and follow instructions in simulation and in the real world (w/ real robots).
• Language & Vision - Make vision-language-action models more robust and capable.
• Open source projects - Make substantial contributions to the tools needed for robust, reproducible, and distributed experimentation.

We regularly publish in high-profile conferences and journals in robotics (CoRL, ICRA, RSS), computer vision (CVPR, ICCV, ECCV), and machine learning (e.g., NeurIPS, ICLR).

Your Next Challenge:

At Ai2, you will be working with world-class AI researchers and talented software engineers. We perform team-based, ambitious research, with a mandate to strive for big breakthroughs, not just incremental progress, in an exciting and interactive workplace.

All scientists have the opportunity to mentor interns (and other students)and will participate directly in Ai2's groundbreaking work. There are no restrictions on publications.

What You'll Need:

Qualifications:

• A strong foundation (typically PhD level) in one or more of the following areas: robot manipulation, planning and motion generation, RL and imitation learning, real world robot systems, simulation environments and sim2real, vision-language-action models.
• A strong publication record in AI-related areas. Example venues include ICRA, RSS, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, etc. Contributions to research communities (e.g. workshop organization, tutorials) are a plus.
• Strong software engineering skills. Experience working with real robot systems and/or with deep learning frameworks.

Bonus Qualifications:

• Research experience in related areas like large-scale multi-node training, training dynamics, efficiency, data curation, multimodal model debugging, post-training methods, among others.
• Contributions to open-source research libraries.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for long periods of time.
• The ability to communicate information and ideas so others will understand. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations.
• The ability to observe details at close range.
• Can work under deadlines.

A Little More About Ai2:

Ai2 is a Seattle based non-profit AI research institute founded in 2014 by the late Paul Allen. Our mission is building breakthrough AI to solve the world's biggest problems. We develop foundational AI research and innovation to deliver real-world impact through large-scale open models, data, robotics, conservation, and beyond.

In addition to Ai2's core mission, we also aim to contribute to humanity through our treatment of each member of the Ai2 Team. Some highlights are:

• We are a learning organization - because everything Ai2 does is ground-breaking, we are learning every day. Similarly, through weekly Ai2 Academy lectures, a wide variety of world-class AI experts as guest speakers, and our commitment to your personal on-going education, Ai2 is a place where you will have opportunities to continue learning alongside your coworkers.
• We value diversity - We seek to hire, support, and promote people from all genders, ethnicities, and all levels of experience regardless of age. We particularly encourage applications from women, non-binary individuals, people of color, members of the LGBTQA+ community, and people with disabilities of any kind.
• We value inclusion - We understand the value that people's individual experiences and perspectives can bring to an organization, and we are building a culture in which all voices are heard, respected and considered.
• We emphasize a healthy work/life balance - we believe our team members are happiest and most productive when their work/life balance is optimized. While we value powerful research results which drive our mission forward, we also value dinner with family, weekend time, and vacation time. We offer generous paid vacation and sick leave as well as family leave.
• We are collaborative and transparent - we consider ourselves a team, all moving with a common purpose. We are quick to cheer our successes, and even quicker to share and jointly problem solve our failures.
• We are in Seattle - and our office is on the water! We have mountains, we have lakes, we have four seasons, we bike to work, we have a vibrant theater scene, and we have so much else. We even have kayaks for you to paddle right outside our front door. We welcome interest from applicants from outside of the United States.
• We are friendly- chances are you will like every one of the 200+ (and growing) people who work here. We do.

Ai2 is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. You may view the related Know Your Rights compliance poster and the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision by clicking on their corresponding links.

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with disabilities to the full extent required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you feel you need a reasonable accommodation pursuant to the ADA, you are encouraged to contact us at recruiting@allenai.org

Benefits:

• Team members and their families are covered by medical, dental, vision, basic life insurance, basic accidental death and dismemberment insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, and an employee assistance program.
• Team members are able to enroll in our voluntary life insurance program, our voluntary accidental death and dismemberment program, our health savings account plan, our healthcare reimbursement arrangement plan, and our health care and dependent care flexible spending account plans.
• Team members are able to enroll in our company's 401k plan.
• Team members will receive $125 per month to assist with commuting or internet expenses and will also receive $200 per month for fitness and wellbeing expenses.
• Team members will also receive up to ten sick days per year, up to seven personal days per year, up to 20 vacation days per year and twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
• Team members will be able to receive annual bonuses and can participate in the long-term incentive plan.

Note: This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the team members(s) of this position. Team members will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully, the team member(s) will possess the skills, aptitudes, and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge, skills, or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an at will relationship.