Robotics Intern, Human-Robot Interaction (Robotics)

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, US; hybrid, in-office role

Pay: $40–$58/hour for Massachusetts-based roles

Company

hirify.global develops tools and capabilities in AI, robotics, driving, and material sciences to improve human quality of life, independence, access, and mobility.

What you will do

• Plan and execute human-robot interaction studies with general-population users.
• Investigate how users expect to collaborate with robots performing real-world tasks.
• Study preference communication through visual, auditory, tactile, and other multimodal modes.
• Potentially incorporate a longitudinal element to examine how expectations adapt across repeated robot interactions.
• Analyze and present findings to colleagues and the wider TRI organization.
• Develop findings suitable for peer-reviewed conference papers or journal articles.

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.
• 2+ years of experience as an academic Human-Robot Interaction researcher.
• Strong software engineering skills, preferably in C++ or Python, plus 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 applying robotics to help humans and achieve real-world, large-scale impact.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with original ROS, ROS 2, or similar middleware and 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 from human feedback or corrections.
• Experience with qualitative and quantitative user research, including study materials, IRB applications, facilitation, interviewing, PII management, and statistical analysis.
• Experience with UX design principles and high-fidelity prototyping.
• System integration experience on complex, open-ended, multifunctional projects.

Culture & Benefits

• Paid 12-week summer internship with a positive, collaborative, and research-focused team.
• Hybrid work with in-office participation in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Paid time off, including holiday pay and sick time.
• Equal employment opportunity and an inclusive environment for people with diverse backgrounds and experiences.