Senior Researcher, Robot Intelligence

Lab Summary: The Robot Intelligence Lab at Samsung Research America is a new facility dedicated to advancing the field of robotics through cutting-edge research and development. The lab’s mission is to develop advanced technologies such as robotics foundation models, vision-language-action (VLA) models, vision language models (VLMs), reinforcement learning, imitation learning, advanced sensing, and sensor fusion to create intelligent robotic systems capable of interacting with their environment in a human-like natural manner. To achieve this mission, the lab collaborates closely with both with external entities such as universities, startups, and government labs, and with several Samsung Product and Advanced Research labs.   

Position Summary:  Samsung Research America is looking for someone who has solid technical skills and rich academic and/or industry experience in areas of robotics and embodied intelligence. Our ideal candidate is to explore novel AI technologies towards generalizing robots to perform tasks in the real world. Samsung’s unique advantage in the consumer electronics market and growing focus on AI and robotics will provide you with exciting technical challenges and a rewarding career experience. By leveraging Samsung’s vast product ecosystem to deliver novel user experiences, your work will define Samsung’s future in robotics and significantly impact real-world users.

Position Responsibilities:

• Conduct state-of-the-art research to push boundaries of emerging fields of robotics and embodied intelligence, on topics such as robotics foundation models, vision-language action (VLA) models, vision language models (VLMs), open-world 3D perception, dexterous manipulation, and multimodal (vision, tactile, audio, semantic) data fusion
• Work with the team to design and implement research prototypes and technology demonstrators on robotic platforms
• Work within cross-functional, cross-divisional teams and assist in the design, analysis and performance evaluation from concept to completion
• Provide technical leadership and assist in shaping R&D priorities by following up-to-date scientific research and communicating key developments
• Generate patents and scientific research papers for top-tier publication venues

Required Skills:

• PhD degree in EECS/Robotics or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience
• 2+ years’ industry experience in robotics foundation models, vision-language-action (VLA) models, and vision language models (VLMs)
• Solid understanding of computer vision techniques (e.g., object detection, segmentation, tracking) and real-time video tokenizer design and multi-view image processing
• Strong research experience with embodied intelligence (reinforcement learning, imitation learning, task planning, perception, simulation platforms such as Mujoco and Isaac Sim)
• Strong experience and solid background on foundation models (e.g., contrastive learning, AI agent, fine-tuning, LoRA), generative AI, and diffusion models
• Knowledgeable of tools and processes to monitor model performance and data quality, including model tuning experience
• Familiarity with PyTorch, TensorFlow, C, C++, Java, ROS, and CUDA
• Strong understanding of robotics fundamentals, including locomotion, manipulation, sensor inputs, pose tracking, 3D mapping, SLAM, ROS, and policy architectures particularly for semi-structured and unstructured environments
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Excellent verbal communication and writing skills to effectively represent the derived results and technical concepts developed in the course of the work