Staff Research Scientist, Dexterous Manipulation

Your New Role and Team
Sanctuary, a world leader in building AI-based control systems for humanoid robots, is seeking a Staff Research Scientist to join our team in engineering and innovating unique robotic manipulation tasks.

As a Staff Research Scientist, your role will involve choosing the most cutting-edge methods, creating training and data collection systems, overseeing the evaluation of these algorithms in simulated environments, and implementing them on our robots in real-world situations. You will also enjoy the exclusive chance to make a meaningful impact by working with novel haptic and proprioceptive sensing techniques, thanks to our in-house robot with dexterous hands.

Success Criteria

• Create, develop, and enhance cutting-edge Reinforcement Learning (RL) and Imitation Learning (IL) algorithms and evaluate their performance in practical applications
• Stay current with the latest developments in RL/IL techniques and their application in robotics
• Identify, communicate, and lead research initiatives that show promise to the wider ML team
• Discover strategies for enhancing current RL/IL learning processes, considering key performance metrics like sample efficiency, speed, computational resources, and scalability
• Devise RL/IL training and data collection pipelines to expedite implementation on physical robots
• Collaborate within a diverse team to devise innovative algorithms and investigate the root causes of errors in existing implementations

Your ExperienceQualifications- Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or equivalent practical background in Reinforcement Learning and/or Imitation Learning

• 5+ years of hands-on experience implementing and deploying robotic manipulation tasks, both in simulation and on physical robots
• 5+ years of practical experience applying various Reinforcement Learning and/or Imitation Learning methods, with focus on robotics in the real world
• 4+ years experience in developing and optimizing large-batch parallel simulations for Reinforcement Learning
• Proven expertise in continual learning, employing adaptive model training to improve long-term performance and accuracy
• Proven expertise in sim-to-real transfer
• Experience in transitioning Machine Learning research and trained models into real-world production
• Active involvement in integrating Machine Learning models into a robotics platform
• A track record of publishing research in esteemed AI conferences such as ICRA, IROS and CORL

Skills- Development with Python 3.8 or later

• Working knowledge of PyTorch and/or TensorFlow
• Familiarity with ROS2
• Expertise in use of Reinforcement Learning principles and their application
• Experience with Atlassian tools; Jira, Confluence, or equivalent i.e. GitLab

Traits- Above all else, a consistently positive attitude and a willingness to do whatever it takes to create robust solutions to complex problems

• Strong leadership skills in organizing R&D work for ML projects
• Eager to take on new challenges with tenacity and positivity
• Patience, persistence, and attention to detail when resolving performance issues
• Enthusiasm for bringing human-like intelligence to machines
• Ability to drive development of new functionalities from concept to production
• Ability to multitask and prioritize in a fast paced environment

Working at Sanctuary AI
Sanctuary AI is an equal opportunity employer; employment with Sanctuary AI is governed based on skills, competence, and qualifications and will not be influenced in any way by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status. In 2023, Sanctuary AI moved into a state-of-the-art office facility and has been recognized by LinkedIn as a Top Startup company.

Compensation and Benefits
Sanctuary offers a market-leading compensation package that includes competitive salaries, equity stakes, and a full suite of benefits for permanent employees, encompassing health coverage, paid time off, cutting-edge work facilities, and worksite flexibility by role. Our commitment to fairness ensures that our total compensation consistently surpasses market standards.

About Sanctuary AI
Founded in 2018, Sanctuary builds humanoid robots and a novel control system for them that integrates symbolic logic and reasoning with data-driven robot foundation models. We use our robots to collect vision, audio, touch, and proprioception data from the perspective of the robot while they perform real-world work tasks. We use that data to train multimodal robot foundation models. Because our systems are vertically integrated, we can design, deploy, and refine at scale. Our mission is to create the world's first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots.

Recruiting and Employment Agency Notice:
Recruitment and hiring is conducted internally by Sanctuary AI. We are not seeking or soliciting any new agency partnerships or agreements at this time. Any employment agency or professional recruiter (“Agency”) that provides an unsolicited resume(s) or otherwise presents a prospective job candidate through the Sanctuary AI career site or directly to any Sanctuary AI employee, irrevocably grants to Sanctuary AI the unrestricted right to engage, hire, or contract with that candidate at Sanctuary AI's sole discretion without any compensation to the Agency. We appreciate your interest in working together, and should the need arise our Talent Acquisition team will contact any external firms directly.