Robotics Intern, Human-Machine Interaction Research

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team advancing the state of the art in AI, robotics, driving, and material sciences.

This is a paid 12-week internship opportunity and is a hybrid, in-office role.

Here’s a glimpse into the Internship experience from some of our TRI interns!

The Mission

Our team works to understand how people interact with intelligent systems and develops human-machine interfaces that enable individuals to work seamlessly with AI, particularly in physically interactive settings. We aim to create technologies that enhance human capability and allow humans and AI to operate in harmony across a wide range of real-world contexts.

The Team

In the Human-Machine Interaction Research group (HMIR), we design, develop and evaluate novel interfaces to improve the safety, well-being, and task performance of people using human-centered artificial intelligence.

The Internship

As a summer research intern, you will develop and evaluate interactions with quadruped robots. Responsibilities include prototyping integrated systems, collecting and analyzing human participant data, building models of interaction logic, conducting user studies to evaluate system effectiveness in the tasks, developing robot policies that adapt to people, and deploying and evaluating these approaches on robot hardware.

Responsibilities

• Integrate and prototype interactions of quadruped robots and humans to study teamwork and collaboration.
• Develop, train, and evaluate learning-based models for human behavior, robot decision-making, or adaptive human-robot interaction.
• Integrate and deploy learned models and policies on physical robots, evaluating their effectiveness, robustness, and real-time performance.
• Design and run user studies to investigate mental model creation (Theory of Mind) and multimodal cueing during human-robot interaction.
• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of research scientists and engineers across Toyota Research Institute.
• Communicate findings through clear verbal presentations and well-structured written reports, including potential submissions to top international venues.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Cognitive Science, Robotics, Machine Learning or a related field.
• Experience integrating hardware and software for real-time interactive robotic systems (e.g., Python, C++, ROS2).
• Familiarity with human-robot interaction (HRI), data-driven behavioral modeling, machine learning, or studying collaborative teamwork dynamics.
• Familiarity with experimental design and data collection involving human participants.
• Ability to work independently, iterate quickly, and communicate results clearly.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, a candidate's experience, skills, job-related knowledge, and market location. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, and paid time off benefits (including holiday pay and sick time). Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.   Please reference this  Candidate Privacy Notice  to inform you of the categories of personal information that we collect from individuals who inquire about and/or apply to work for Toyota Research Institute, Inc. or its subsidiaries, including Toyota A.I. Ventures GP, L.P., and the purposes for which we use such personal information.   TRI is fueled by a diverse and inclusive community of people with unique backgrounds, education and life experiences. We are dedicated to fostering an innovative and collaborative environment by living the values that are an essential part of our culture. We believe diversity makes us stronger and are proud to provide Equal Employment Opportunity for all, without regard to an applicant’s race, color, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, religion, marital status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state or local laws.   It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment.