Research Scientist / Engineer: Intern

About the Role

Holiday Robotics Research Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of Holiday Robotics, a leading humanoid robotics company based in South Korea. We build the entire robotics stack in‑house—from hardware and firmware to planning, control, simulation, and end‑user software—with the goal of freeing people from tedious, dangerous, and repetitive tasks. We are looking for a Research Scientist / Engineer Intern to contribute to FRIDAY, our mobile humanoid robot, within one of three focus areas: dynamics, planning, and control; dexterous robot manipulation; or robot learning. During the internship, you will own a focused research or engineering project, work closely with researchers and engineers across disciplines, and evaluate your work in simulation and on the physical robot.

• Dynamics, Planning & Control
• Dexterous Robot Manipulation
• Robot Learning

Responsibilities

• Develop and evaluate dynamics, planning, and control algorithms; multimodal dexterous‑manipulation methods; or robot‑learning policies using reinforcement and imitation learning.
• Run reproducible experiments in our in‑house simulator, Holiday‑Newton, and on FRIDAY; define evaluation metrics, analyze failure modes, and iterate quickly between simulation and hardware.
• Own your project end‑to‑end, from problem formulation through final evaluation, with guidance from a designated mentor.
• Collaborate with hardware, firmware, perception, simulation, and robotics research teams, and document and present your results at the end of the internship.

Required Qualifications

• Currently enrolled in a BS, MS, or Ph.D. program in Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related field.
• Strong technical foundation in at least one of the following: dynamics, planning, and control; dexterous manipulation; perception and state estimation; or robot learning.
• Strong proficiency in Python or C++, and willingness to work in both as the project requires, with experience developing and debugging software in Linux.
• Available to work full‑time on‑site in Mountain View, CA for a minimum of three months, with approximately six months preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands‑on experience with physical robots, including manipulators, mobile platforms, humanoids, or tactile‑sensing systems.
• Exposure to Sim‑to‑Real transfer, or to deploying and evaluating controllers or learned policies on physical robots.
• Experience with ROS 2, MuJoCo, Drake, Warp, JAX, PyTorch, or comparable robotics and machine‑learning tools.
• Evidence of exceptional technical work through publications at venues such as RSS, ICRA, IROS, or CoRL, open‑source contributions, robotics competitions, or substantial independent projects.

Pay

$60–$80 USD per hour. Final hourly compensation is based on education level, experience, technical depth, and project fit.

Schedule

Full‑time internship with an expected duration of approximately six months; minimum commitment of three months. Standard 40‑hour workweek, no overtime expected. Flexible start date; exact start and end dates are agreed upon during the offer process. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States; visa sponsorship is not available for this internship.

Benefits

• Free daily meals.
• Relocation stipend for out‑of‑state candidates.
• Interns who excel may be considered for full‑time roles on the team.