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About the job

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 interdisciplinary problems and collaborate closely with researchers outside of robotics.

Strong experimental and problem-solving skills, including the ability to diagnose failures in integrated hardware and software systems.

Motivation, creativity, speed of learning, and an interest in applying robotics to scientific experimentation.

Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

PhD in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a closely related field.

Experience with robotic manipulation in unstructured or semi-structured environments.

Experience with computer vision, force-controlled manipulation, tactile sensing, or learning-based robotics.

Experience with bimanual manipulation or coordinated multi-arm robotic systems.

Experience integrating robots with external instruments, sensors, or automation hardware.

Experience with task and motion planning, reinforcement learning, imitation learning, or other machine-learning approaches for robotics.

Experience developing systems requiring high reliability, autonomous error detection, or failure recovery.

Interest in chemistry, laboratory automation, or autonomous scientific experimentation. Prior chemistry experience is helpful but not required.

Required Documents

Resume or Curriculum Vitae.

Cover letter describing relevant robotics experience and interest in autonomous laboratory experimentation.