Engineer– Embodied AI Lab Automation: Vision-Guided Real Time Robotic Manipulation

About the role

The National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven National Laboratory is seeking an engineer to develop an automated protein crystal harvesting system at the Center for BioMolecular Structure (CBMS).

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement vision-guided real-time robotic manipulation methods for crystal harvesting
• Design and deploy closed-loop perception and control pipelines using visual feedback
• Contribute to vision-based servoing approaches for precise, real-time positioning
• Integrate perception outputs with motion planning and execution using ROS2 and MoveIt2
• Perform system calibration (e.g., hand-eye calibration, camera calibration) to ensure accurate 3D spatial alignment
• Evaluate and improve system robustness, including perception uncertainty and failure modes
• Collaborate closely with domain experts across crystallography, controls, and engineering
• Participate in system testing, tuning, and performance evaluation
• Document methods and results; contribute to reports, publications, and presentations

Requirements

• B.S. in Robotics, Computer Science, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a related field
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing robotics systems
• Strong programming skills in Python and/or C++
• Knowledge of robotic systems: Robot kinematics and coordinate transformations, Motion planning and trajectory generation, Calibration methods

Preferred

• M.S. in Robotics, Computer Science, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a related field
• Experience developing robotic systems that integrate vision-guided control in real-world settings
• Experience working with ROS2-based ecosystems
• Experience with camera calibration, hand-eye calibration, and coordinate frame registration
• Experience integrating machine learning models into robotics
• Familiarity with: Micro-Manipulation, Sensor fusion or state estimation, Real-time system debugging and performance tuning