Temporary Research Assistant

JOB TITLE

Temporary Research Assistant

LOCATION

Worcester

DEPARTMENT NAME

Robotics Engineering - JM

DIVISION NAME

Worcester Polytechnic Institute - WPI

JOB DESCRIPTION SUMMARY

Temporary Research Assistant to work closely with PhD students to implement dexterous picking solutions.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Responsibilities:

• The role will focus on developing supervised learning methods for manipulation with a three-finger gripper. This includes accurate object detection, physics-based reasoning, and contextual understanding of the manipulation scene. Experimental evaluation will compare different skill-specific strategies and measure grasping success across varied scene configurations.

Requirements:

• Undergraduate degrees in Robotics engineering or equivalent
• Related Background should include: C++, Python, ROS, Computer Vision, Deep Learning, Path Planning, MoveIt.
• This project includes with real robotic manipulators often; prior experience on real robots is also preferred.

Compensation:

Hourly rate is $21.00 per hour based on experience. This is an externally funded on-site 20 hour per week position until 8/15/2026.

FLSA STATUS

United States of America (Non-Exempt)

WPI is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or disability. It seeks individuals from all backgrounds and experiences who will contribute to a culture of creativity, collaboration, inclusion, problem solving, innovation, high performance, and change making. It is committed to maintaining a campus environment free of harassment and discrimination.