Co-op, Robotics Research – Physical AI at Rockwell… · Waterloo

CO-OP, ROBOTICS RESEARCH – PHYSICAL AI Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada · On-site Rockwell Automation is a global technology leader focused on helping the world’s manufacturers be more productive, sustainable, and agile. With more than 28,000 employees who make the world better every day, we know we have something special. Behind our customers - amazing companies that help feed the world, provide life-saving medicine on a global scale, and focus on clean water and green mobility - our people are energized problem solvers that take pride in how the work we do changes the world for the better. We welcome all makers, forward thinkers, and problem solvers who are looking for a place to do their best work. And if that’s you we would love to have you join us! Job Description About Rockwell Automation Robotics Center of Excellence The Robotics Center of Excellence (RCoE) is the "innovation engine" of Rockwell Automation robotics. We are a dynamic, high-impact research group dedicated to applying the latest research to transform real-world industrial operations at scale. Our mission is to move beyond rigid, pre-programmed automation and usher in the new era of Autonomous Operations. Here, you'll work alongside world-class experts in a culture that prizes rapid prototyping, intellectual curiosity, and the drive to see "impossible" ideas working on the factory floor. About the Job We are looking for a passionate Robotics Research Intern who is eager to learn at the intersection of AI theory and hands-on implementation. In this role, you will work closely with senior researchers, gaining invaluable hands-on experience with cutting-edge embodied intelligence. Your work will directly support the development of next-generation Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models, World Models, and Reinforcement Learning (RL) frameworks. About You You are a "builder-researcher", someone who is just as comfortable deriving a loss function on a whiteboard as you are debugging a real world robot. You are: • Driven & Passionate: You have an obsessive curiosity about how machines interact with the physical world. • Autonomous and Collaborative: You can take a vaguely defined problem and run with it, and you thrive in a high-performing team where peer review and collective brainstorming elevate everyone. • Innovative: You don't just apply existing tools and libraries; you invent new ones when the current state-of-the-art falls short. • Impact-Oriented: You aren't satisfied with a simulation that works; you want to see your code moving tons of steel in the real world. Your Responsibilities: • Data Science: Collect, manage, and process physical AI datasets to enable development of industrial tasks • Physical AI Development: Train, fine-tune, and evaluate multi-modal robotics models for real-world industrial tasks. • Simulation-to-Real: Develop "sim-to-real" pipelines using them to accelerate policy training. • Software Excellence: Write clean, scalable, and high-performance code leveraging modern system programming languages and following software engineering best practices. • Dissemination: Document your research through technical reports, white papers, and high-impact publications. The Essentials - You Will Have: • Actively pursuing a bachelors or advanced degree from an accredited college or university. • Legal authorization to work in Canada is required. We will not sponsor individuals for employment visas, now or in the future for this job opening. The Preferred - You Might Also Have: • Physical AI: Core understanding of Machine Learning concepts, particularly vision and robotics applications. • Robotics: Hands-on experience working with robotics hardware and sensors • Data Science: Experience curating and managing training datasets • Software Development: Strong foundation in software development, with the ability to design clean, maintainable systems and quickly understand unfamiliar codebases. • AI Frameworks: Hand-on experience with PyTorch, LeRobot, HuggingFace, etc. • Simulation Tools: Exposure to simulation environments for data generation • Problem Solving: A track record of solving complex, unstructured problems • Bonus points if you have: • Experience with ROS/ROS2 • Experience with robotics manipulation principles, control and planning • Exposure to foundation models such as Vision-Language-Action models • Experience with research, parsing academic publications, and literature review. • Experience engaging with the open source community with track record of working with maintainers to improve libraries. What We Offer: • Health Insurance including Medical and Dental • Health Care Spending Account (HCSA – dependent on the plan chosen) • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) • Retirement plans • Paid Time off • Volunteering Time off • Employer Savings Plan Matching (includes RRSP, TFSA, and EPSP) • Employer Paid DC Pension • Maternity and Parental Leave Top-Up • Fitness Reimbursement Program • Flexible Work Schedule where you will work with your manager to enjoy a work schedule that can be flexible with your personal life. This position is part of a job family. Experience will be the determining factor for position level and compensation. For this role, the Hourly Compensation is from $20 - $32/hour. Actual pay will be based on factors such as skills, knowledge, education, and experience. This posting is for a newly created position within our organization. At Rockwell Automation we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles. #LI-Hybrid   We are an Equal Opportunity Employer including disability and veterans.  If you are an individual with a disability and you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please contact our services team at +1 (519) 618-4899.