Research Engineer

About Willow Garage

Willow Garage intends to revolutionize robotic mobile manipulation and to jump start a broad scale industry in that area. We are working towards this goal through fostering robust open hardware and software platforms; doing research internally and in close cooperation with top research groups across the globe to systematically remove the key bottlenecks to robotic capability; and enabling or spinning off companies in different application areas. We are well funded and able to do this with staying power.

We have assembled a team of international leaders in a wide range of robot fields from machine perception, machine learning, planning, control, grasping, human-robotic interaction and on to mechanical and electrical engineering. We have a great work environment with large and fluid collaborations across areas of expertise. We're open, we publish, run workshops, attend conferences and collaborate widely with top researchers around the world. We have soccer games and free lunches, and company outings from ski trips to zero-g flights.

Primary Function

Implement and apply new and existing algorithms in perception, learning, planning, and control to develop practical and robust abilities for robots in human environments. Transform ideas from academic papers into working code.

Roles and Responsibilities

  • Work with researchers to identify state-of-the art algorithms to apply to practical problems in robot perception and control
  • Read and evaluate academic articles that present relevant algorithms
  • Validate performance of existing open-source implementations of algorithms
  • Develop high-quality open-source implementations of algorithms that have no open-source implementation
  • Fields of interest include:
    • Computer vision (e.g., object recognition, the combination of geometry and appearance)
    • Machine learning (e.g., learning from demonstration, learning from labeled examples)
    • Planning (e.g., sampling-based planning, any-time planning)
    • Control (e.g., trajectory tracking, safety monitoring)
    • Grasping and manipulation (e.g. grasp planning and execution, tactile sensing, etc.)
    • Human-Robot Interaction (e.g., building interactive behaviors on existing ROS platform)

Skills / Job Requirements

  • Strong C++ and/or Python programming
  • Ability to understand and implement complex algorithms efficiently and correctly
  • Experience developing and maintaining open-source software preferred
  • Experience working on robot hardware preferred
  • Experience integrating perception with mechanism control preferred

Application Materials

* Cover letter
* Resume/CV
* Downloadable code sample(s)
* Two references and/or two letters of recommendation
* A recent publication or statement of past experiences

To Apply

Send your Application Materials and links to any projects you'd like us to take a look at to jobs@willowgarage.com

Willow Garage is an equal opportunity employer