Robotics Intern - Prototyping And Research Operations

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team in Automated Driving, Energy & Materials, Human-Centered AI, Human Interactive Driving, Large Behavior Models, and Robotics.

This is a summer 2026 paid 12-week internship opportunity. Please note that this internship will be a hybrid in-office role.

The Team

The Prototyping and Research Operations (PROps) team supports and operationalizes TRI’s robotics research to succeed at scale in laboratory and deployment environments. We work across engineering and operations disciplines to develop robot hardware and testing setups, as well as operate and deploy robotic research systems to collect data for researchers. Our team administers the two prototyping laboratories within TRI and uses those facilities to prototype research hardware.

The Internship

The intern who joins our team will have the opportunity to contribute to the work of our various research support projects and the daily tasks that keep our researchers productive, and will focus on three areas:

Maintaining and improving the lab: This will include working with the lab manager on organizational tasks, fulfilling fabrication requests, maintaining and fixing the manufacturing equipment and robot systems, and improving lab workflow and tooling, allowing for more efficient use of the lab space.

Supporting our operations projects: This will require our intern to collaborate with Research Operations Engineers to design and coordinate events, improve data collection processes, and maintain testing and deployment documentation to support the research and engineering teams.

This project will have a robust communication system that enhances the efficiency and clarity of task instructions, clearly defined quality metrics that provide actionable insights into task performance, and improved overall effectiveness of the robotics team in executing new tasks.

Responsibilities

• Assist in fulfilling fabrication requests and maintaining the functionality of manufacturing equipment and robotic systems.
• Work alongside Research Operations to design and coordinate events that support research initiatives.
• Work directly with the robot operators to discover pain points and find mitigations.
• Enhance data collection processes and maintain comprehensive testing and deployment documentation.
• Develop and implement a robust communication system to enhance the clarity and efficiency of task instructions.
• Establish and monitor quality metrics to provide actionable insights for task performance.
• Contribute to improving the overall effectiveness of the robotics team in executing new tasks and projects.

Qualifications

• Robotics, Computer Science, or Engineering student (undergrad junior or senior, or a master’s student).
• A drive to learn new skills and become adept at new systems, processes, and tools.
• A safety-first mentality.
• Experience executing and summarizing system tests and results.
• Demonstrable communication skills, written and verbal, including utilization of design documents and systems drawings.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with large scale data collection efforts
• Process Engineering or Quality Engineering knowledge
• 6-Sigma training
• Understand software development processes and the tooling required to enact them, such as version control (e.g., Git) and CI/ CD (e.g., Jenkins).
• Working knowledge of Asana and Gsuite

Please link your portfolio or include a list of projects you’ve worked on that exemplify your relevant skills for this position.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $45 and $65/hour for California-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, business or organizational needs, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, and paid time off benefits (including holiday pay and sick time). Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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