Robotics Engineer

Are you a motivated and hands-on Robotics Engineer eager to support the robotic maintenance and inspection of CERN's experimental facilities?

Robotics enables safe, remote interventions in challenging environments. You will contribute to developing and optimising perception systems, integrating sensors and processing sensory data to provide actionable insights for operators or autonomous control.

Your work will focus on camera-based sensing, computer vision, and machine learning to enhance the awareness and autonomy of CERN's robotic platforms.

Your responsibilities:

• Integrate and configure sensor systems (e.g. RGB, RGB-D, endoscopic, and thermal cameras) on robotic platforms used in maintenance and inspection missions.
• Develop and implement computer vision algorithms for object detection, image segmentation, pose estimation, and 3D perception.
• Develop and optimise C++ software frameworks for data acquisition, image processing, and sensor fusion.
• Apply machine learning techniques to perception and understanding tasks, deploying models using pipelines such as the Nvidia Triton Inference Server or similar.
• Debug and optimise camera drivers and network parameters, ensuring reliable, low-latency data transfer for real-time operation.
• Collaborate with robotics, controls, and operations teams to integrate perception systems into existing robotic maintenance platforms and workflows.

Your profile:

• Demonstrates hands-on experience with camera and sensor systems, including hardware integration, calibration, and debugging.
• Solid understanding of computer vision and machine learning techniques for robotic perception and environment understanding.
• Experience in software development using C++ frameworks and exposure to machine learning libraries such as TensorFlow or PyTorch.
• Interested in applying robotics technologies to real-world maintenance and inspection applications in complex experimental environments.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work independently and collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams.

Skills:

• Proficiency in C++ for robotics and perception software development.
• Experience with computer vision algorithms (segmentation, object detection, pose estimation, feature extraction).
• Knowledge of machine learning techniques and libraries such as TensorFlow and PyTorch.
• Familiarity with point cloud processing and 3D perception techniques.
• Experience with camera drivers, sensor calibration, and network optimisation for image streaming.
• Understanding of machine learning inference pipelines, e.g. Nvidia Triton Inference Server.
• Ability to debug, integrate, and test perception systems on robotic hardware.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to document and present technical work clearly.
• Collaborative mindset and enthusiasm for working in a multidisciplinary, experimental environment.
• Spoken and written English, with a commitment to learn French.

Eligibility criteria:

• You are a national of a CERN Member or Associate Member State.
• You have a professional background in Robotics Engineering (or a related field) and have either:
  • a Master's degree with 2 to 6 years of post-graduation professional experience;
  • or a PhD with no more than 3 years of post-graduation professional experience.
• You have never had a CERN fellow or graduate contract before.