Research Scientist Intern, Robotics Foundation Models Mid-Training (PhD)

Meta Reality Labs Research is a team of researchers and engineers pushing the frontier of AI and robotics. Our team is building the next generation of world action models (WAMs) and vision-language-action models (VLAs) for robotic manipulation. We are seeking a Research Scientist Intern to develop scalable methods for mid-training world action models on large-scale egocentric video and robot data.Interns in this role will conduct fundamental and applied research to advance foundation models for robotics, with a focus on mid-training. You will collaborate with research scientists and engineers to develop new algorithms, build and evaluate model capabilities, and contribute to the next generation of embodied AI.Our internships are twelve (12) to twenty-four (24) weeks long and we have various start dates throughout the year. Research Scientist Intern, Robotics Foundation Models Mid-Training (PhD) Responsibilities: Develop scalable mid-training methods for WAMs using large-scale egocentric video and heterogeneous robot data.Investigate representation and objective design for learning from human egocentric video.Address challenges in training on web-scale, weakly-labeled data, including embodiment and viewpoint gaps, data curation and filtering, and domain mixture weighting.Build efficient training and data pipelines, and study how downstream policy performance scales with dataset size, model capacity, and compute.Design experiments and benchmarks to measure what mid-training contributes, isolating its effect on downstream post-training and generalization across tasks and embodiments.Collaborate with research scientists and engineers to evaluate mid-trained models in simulation and on real robots.Communicate research findings and publish results at leading machine learning, computer vision, and robotics venues. Minimum Qualifications: Currently has or is in the process of obtaining a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, or a related STEM fieldResearch experience in training of video models or robotics foundation modelsExperience implementing and training deep learning models using Python and PyTorch or a comparable frameworkExperience designing controlled experiments, analyzing results, and debugging machine learning algorithmsInterpersonal experience: cross-group and cross-culture collaborationMust obtain work authorization in country of employment at the time of hire and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment Preferred Qualifications: Experience training VLAs, WAMs, or other foundation models for embodied decision-makingExperience with diffusion or flow-based policies, action-sequence prediction, or action-conditioned world modelsHands-on experience with distributed training across multiple GPUs or nodes, including improving training throughput, memory efficiency, and stabilityExperience evaluating learned policies on physical robots or robotics simulation benchmarksProven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, fellowships, patents, and/or accepted papers in top conferences or journals such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CoRL, RSS, ICRA, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ACL, etc About Meta: Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at Meta help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics. Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Meta participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that Meta may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment. Meta is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at accommodations-ext@meta.com. $7,650/month to $12,667/month + benefits Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate, monthly rate, or annual salary only, and do not include bonus, equity or sales incentives, if applicable. In addition to base compensation, Meta offers benefits. Learn more about benefits at Meta.