Robotics Researcher - Physical AI

Rockwell Automation is a global technology leader focused on helping the world’s manufacturers be more productive, sustainable, and agile. With more than 28,000 employees who make the world better every day, we know we have something special. Behind our customers - amazing companies that help feed the world, provide life-saving medicine on a global scale, and focus on clean water and green mobility - our people are energized problem solvers that take pride in how the work we do changes the world for the better.

We welcome all makers, forward thinkers, and problem solvers who are looking for a place to do their best work. And if that’s you we would love to have you join us!

Job Description

About Rockwell Automation Robotics Center of Excellence

The Robotics Center of Excellence (RCoE) is the "innovation engine" of Rockwell Automation robotics. We are a dynamic, high-impact research group dedicated to applying the latest research to transform real-world industrial operations at scale. Our mission is to move beyond rigid, pre-programmed automation and usher in the new era of Autonomous Operations. Here, you'll work alongside world-class experts in a culture that prizes rapid prototyping, intellectual curiosity, and the drive to see "impossible" ideas working on the factory floor.

About the Job

We are looking for a Robotics Researcher who lives at the intersection of deep theory and hands-on implementation. In this applied research role your primary directive is to push the boundaries of what AI and robotics can do in the physical world.

You will lead innovative projects that encompass the full stack of physical intelligence, from high-level reasoning to low-level control, redefining what is possible in the factories of tomorrow. You are encouraged to stay at the cutting edge: attending conferences, publishing your findings, and filing patents for world-first technologies. Your focus will be on building embodied intelligence that allows robots to see, reason, and manipulate the world with human-like dexterity.

You will report to the Sr. Manager, Mobile Robot Technology, in the Technology and Innovation Unit. This is a Hybrid role in Waterloo, ON.

About You

You are a "builder-researcher", someone who is just as comfortable deriving a loss function on a whiteboard as you are debugging a real-world robot arm. You are:

• Driven & Passionate: You have an obsessive curiosity about how machines interact with the physical world.

• Autonomous and Collaborative: You can take a vaguely defined research problem and run with it and thrive in a high-performing team where peer review and collective brainstorming elevate everyone.

• Innovative: You don't just apply existing tools and libraries; you invent new ones when the current state-of-the-art falls short.

• Impact-Oriented: You aren't satisfied with a simulation that works; you want to see your code moving tons of steel in the real world.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Architect & Implement: Design and deploy state-of-the-art algorithms for robotic perception, planning, and dexterous manipulation.
• Physical AI Development: Train and fine-tune large-scale foundation models (VLAs/VLMs) for real-world industrial tasks.
• Simulation-to-Real: Develop advanced "sim-to-real" pipelines using them to accelerate policy training.
• Technology Scouting: Investigate, benchmark, and report on emerging robotics trends and academic breakthroughs to keep ahead of the curve.
• Software Excellence: Write clean, scalable, and code leveraging modern system programming languages and following software engineering best practices.
• Collaborative R&D: Work closely with Business Units to optimize robotic systems for new AI-driven capabilities.
• Dissemination: Document your research through technical reports, white papers, and high-impact publications.

The Essential qualifications - You will have:

• Bachelor's Degree or Equivalent Years of Relevant Work Experience.

The Preferred - You Might Also Have:

• Typically requires 5+ Years of related work experience.
• Education: Graduate degree (Masters or PhD) in Computer Science, Robotics, or related field.

• Experience: 5+ years of hands-on experience in robotics research or high-tech R&D (can include graduate research)
• Research: A proven track record of research excellence with publications in top conferences / journals.

• Physical AI Expertise: Deep theoretical and practical knowledge in Reinforcement Learning, Vison Language Models, and/or World Models.

• Manipulation & Perception: Experience in robotic grasping, 6D pose estimation, and multi-modal sensor fusion (Vision, Tactile, Force/Torque).

• Software Mastery: You have an excellent talent for software design and the ability to understanding unfamiliar systems and their workings

• Data Science: Experience developing and curating large multi-modal training dataset from real-world and synthetic data.

• AI Frameworks: Hand-on experience with PyTorch, TensorFlow, Isaac Lab

• Simulation Tools: Skill in using simulation environments for data generation and policy verification.

• Problem Solving: A track record of solving complex, unstructured problems in the robotics domain.

The Extras - You Could Also Have:

• Experience with high-performance ML systems (CUDA, TPUs, JAX, Warp)
• Experience with distributed GPU computing
• Experience with ROS/ROS2
• Experience engaging with the open source community with track record of working with maintainers to improve libraries.

What We Offer:

• Health Insurance including Medical and Dental
• Health Care Spending Account (HCSA – dependent on the plan chosen)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Retirement plans
• Paid Time off
• Volunteering Time off
• Employer Savings Plan Matching (includes RRSP, TFSA, and EPSP)
• Employer Paid DC Pension
• Maternity and Parental Leave Top-Up
• Fitness Reimbursement Program
• Flexible Work Schedule

For this role, the total target compensation is from $121,440.00 - $182,160.00 CAD Annual. Actual pay will be based on factors such as skills, knowledge, education, and experience.

This posting is for an existing vacancy within our organization.

At Rockwell Automation we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

This position is part of a job family. Experience will be the determining factor for position level and compensation.

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We are an Equal Opportunity Employer including disability and veterans. 

If you are an individual with a disability and you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please contact our services team at +1 (519) 618-4899.

Rockwell Automation’s hybrid policy aligns that employees are expected to work at a Rockwell location at least Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays unless they have a business obligation out of the office.