Robotics Engineer

Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute that marshals some of the world's brightest minds and most innovative tools to address fundamental scientific questions. We thrive on finding and cultivating talented people who are passionate about what they do. Join us and be a part of the diverse Caltech community.

Job Summary The Robotics Engineer will develop robotic systems capable of autonomously carrying out common but technically challenging laboratory tasks in the chemical sciences. This position will work at the intersection of robotics, artificial intelligence, and chemical experimentation, with the goal of building flexible robotic platforms that can operate safely, reliably, and autonomously in real laboratory environments.

The Robotics Engineer will lead the development and integration of robotic manipulation, perception, planning, control, and feedback systems for automated chemical experimentation. The position will work closely with chemists, chemical engineers, and other researchers in the Manthiram Lab to identify laboratory tasks that can be automated and translate experimental requirements into robust robotic workflows.

Essential

Job Duties Design, build, and program robotic systems for autonomous laboratory experimentation.

Develop robotic manipulation strategies for laboratory tasks involving objects such as glassware, instruments, containers, samples, and laboratory tools.

Develop motion-planning, task-planning, perception, control, and feedback algorithms for operation in complex laboratory environments.

Integrate robotic manipulators with cameras, force/torque sensors, grippers, laboratory instruments, and other sensing and actuation hardware.

Develop software infrastructure for coordinating robotic operations with automated chemical experiments and laboratory instrumentation.

Design systems that can recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors during autonomous operation.

Develop approaches for safe and reliable interaction between robots, laboratory equipment, chemicals, and human researchers.

Evaluate robotic system performance through systematic experimentation and use these results to improve hardware, algorithms, and workflows.

Work closely with researchers in chemistry and chemical engineering to identify experimental procedures suitable for robotic automation and translate those procedures into robotic workflows.

Develop reusable robotic capabilities that can generalize across multiple laboratory tasks rather than being limited to a single experimental procedure.

Contribute to research publications, presentations, and proposals arising from the work.

Mentor students and researchers working on robotics and laboratory automation projects.

Maintain and improve robotic hardware, software, and associated laboratory infrastructure.

Meet regularly with the principal investigator and research team to define technical priorities, evaluate progress, and identify new research directions.

Conduct research in areas of mutual interest related to robotics, autonomous experimentation, machine learning, and laboratory automation.

Other tasks as assigned.

Basic Qualifications Master's degree or higher in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related field.

Strong research background in robotics, including experience with robotic manipulation, motion planning, control, perception, or related areas.

Experience developing and testing integrated robotic hardware and software systems.

Strong programming skills, particularly in Python and/or C++.

Experience with common robotics software frameworks and tools.

Ability to independently design, implement, troubleshoot, and evaluate complex robotic systems.

Ability to work effectively on…