AI Research Intern

Job description

Job responsibilities

• Conduct research and development on AI technology for surgical robotics, specifically integrating visual data (endoscopic video), surgical context (language/data), and precise robotic actions (instrument control).
• Develop and implement novel algorithms for VLA models focused on surgical scene understanding, procedure phase recognition, and learning from expert demonstrations (e.g., imitation learning) to improve system guidance…
• Analyze and process large, real-world surgical datasets from the da Vinci system to train and evaluate AI models.
• Validate models using both internal simulation platforms and, where appropriate, physical da Vinci systems, adhering to strict quality and regulatory protocols.
• Collaborate with a cross-functional team of engineers, researchers, and potentially even clinicians/surgeons, to translate research prototypes into robust, testable software solutions.
• Document research outcomes and contribute to technical reports and internal documentation, with potential opportunities for patent filings or conference submissions.

Job requirements

• University Enrollment: Must be currently enrolled in and returning to an accredited degree-seeking academic program in the Fall.
• Internship Work Period: Must be available to work starting January 2027 and full-time (approximately 40 hours per week) during a 10-12 week period. Specific start dates are shared during the recruiting process.
• Publications in top-tier conferences/journals
• Experience building systems based on machine learning and/or deep learning methods.
• Strong hands-on Python skills.
• Strong hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks such PyTorch, TensorFlow, and Caffe.
• Self-starter and able to work in a collaborative and results oriented environment.
• (Preferred) Experience extending and innovating on LLM/AI agent techniques. Experience in one or more of RLHF, DPO, finetuning, RAG, CoT, and multi-agent reasoning.