Machine Learning Research Intern; Reinforcement​/Imitation Learning

Machine Learning Research Intern (Reinforcement/Imitation Learning)

Job type:
Internship
· Department:
Co‑op
· Work type:
On‑Site

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Sanctuary AI, a world leader in building dexterity‑driven Physical AI for general purpose robots, is looking to hire an intern to join our ML team. Reporting to the RL Lead, the intern will tackle challenges related to perception, planning, and motion systems for humanoid general‑purpose robots. The role involves engineering and innovating robotic manipulation tasks, developing simulation platform and machine learning systems.

• Design, implement, and improve state‑of‑the‑art RL and IL algorithms and test them in real‑world settings
• Keep up to date with latest RL/IL methodologies and robotics research
• Identify, communicate, and drive promising research directions to the team
• Find ways to improve existing RL/IL pipelines in terms of sample efficiency, speed, computational resource usage, and scalability
• Design RL/IL training and data‑collection pipelines to facilitate fast deployment on physical robots
• Work with a multidisciplinary team to develop novel algorithms and investigate sources of errors in implementations

• Pursuing MS or Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Applied Math, or related field
• Experience implementing a variety of RL and IL methods, especially in computer vision or robotics specializations
• Hands‑on experience integrating ML models onto a robotics platform
• Experience implementing and deploying (dexterous) robotic manipulation tasks in simulation and on physical robots
• Experience taking ML R&D and trained models into production
• Experience with computer vision systems
• Experience in simulation‑to‑reality transfer learning

• Python 3.6 or later
• Working knowledge of PyTorch and/or JAX
• Familiarity with ROS2
• Extensive knowledge of RL/IL principles and usage

• Consistently positive attitude and willingness to create robust solutions to complex problems
• Optimistic listening and conflict resolution skills
• Ability to influence others without authority
• Eagerness to take on new challenges with tenacity and positivity
• Patience, persistence, and attention to detail when resolving performance issues
• Obsessive focus on bringing human‑like intelligence to machines