Staff Research Scientist, Dexterous Manipulation at Sanctuary AI

Your New Role and TeamSanctuary, a world leader in building AI-based control systems for humanoid robots, is seeking a Staff Research Scientist to join our team in engineering and innovating unique robotic manipulation tasks.As a Staff Research Scientist, your role will involve choosing the most cutting-edge methods, creating training and data collection systems, overseeing the evaluation of these algorithms in simulated environments, and implementing them on our robots in real-world situations. You will also enjoy the exclusive chance to make a meaningful impact by working with novel haptic and proprioceptive sensing techniques, thanks to our in-house robot with dexterous hands.

Success Criteria

Create, develop, and enhance cutting-edge Reinforcement Learning (RL) and Imitation Learning (IL) algorithms and evaluate their performance in practical applications

Stay current with the latest developments in RL/IL techniques and their application in robotics

Identify, communicate, and lead research initiatives that show promise to the wider ML team

Discover strategies for enhancing current RL/IL learning processes, considering key performance metrics like sample efficiency, speed, computational resources, and scalability

Devise RL/IL training and data collection pipelines to expedite implementation on physical robots

Collaborate within a diverse team to devise innovative algorithms and investigate the root causes of errors in existing implementations

Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or equivalent practical background in Reinforcement Learning and/or Imitation Learning

5+ years of hands-on experience implementing and deploying robotic manipulation tasks, both in simulation and on physical robots

5+ years of practical experience applying various Reinforcement Learning and/or Imitation Learning methods, with focus on robotics in the real world

4+ years experience in developing and optimizing large-batch parallel simulations for Reinforcement Learning

Proven expertise in continual learning, employing adaptive model training to improve long-term performance and accuracy

Proven expertise in sim-to-real transfer

Experience in transitioning Machine Learning research and trained models into real-world production

Active involvement in integrating Machine Learning models into a robotics platform

A track record of publishing research in esteemed AI conferences such as ICRA, IROS and CORL

Development with Python 3.8 or later

Working knowledge of PyTorch and/or TensorFlow

Familiarity with ROS2

Expertise in use of Reinforcement Learning principles and their application

Experience with Atlassian tools; Jira, Confluence, or equivalent i.e. GitLab

Above all else, a consistently positive attitude and a willingness to do whatever it takes to create robust solutions to complex problems

Strong leadership skills in organizing R&D work for ML projects

Eager to take on new challenges with tenacity and positivity

Patience, persistence, and attention to detail when resolving performance issues

Enthusiasm for bringing human-like intelligence to machines

Ability to drive development of new functionalities from concept to production

Ability to multitask and prioritize in a fast paced environment

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