Fractal Labs Inc. ยท 19 hours ago
Robotics Research Scientist (VLAs/Word Models)
New York, NY
Full-time
Onsite
Senior LevelFractal Labs Inc. is focused on developing the next generation of humanoid robots for manufacturing environments. The Robotics Research Scientist will lead research in world models, VLAs, and Deep RL, creating algorithms for robust manipulation and locomotion in dynamic settings.
Information TechnologySoftware
Responsibilities
Develop next-gen world models, VLA policies, and Deep RL algorithms for dynamics understanding, uncertainty reasoning, and long-horizon planning
Design physics-consistent generative models (e.g., Genie, V-JEPA, latent dynamics) for predictive control and sim-to-real transfer
Build visuomotor policies for industrial manipulation and locomotion
Improve robustness, fault tolerance, distribution-shift resilience, and safety across behaviors
Apply hybrid approaches (model-based RL, diffusion policies, moment matching, MPC hybrids) to stabilize control
Use Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, and custom simulators to generate training data and evaluate policies
Build physics-aware pipelines integrating contacts, proprioception, force/torque feedback, and language-conditioned planning
Deploy policies on real humanoids (Unitree-class or custom), debugging failure modes and enhancing reliability and recovery behaviors
Qualification
Required
PhD or Master's with equivalent experience in ML, Robotics, CS, Physics, or related fields
Deep expertise in World Models (V-JEPA, Genie, latent dynamics)
Deep expertise in VLA models (RT-X, Pi-0.6)
Deep expertise in Deep RL (actor-critic, model-based RL, large-scale RL)
Deep expertise in Generative modeling (diffusion, autoregressive, latent video models)
Hands-on deployment of policies on physical robots
Strong engineering skills in Python + PyTorch/JAX and scalable training systems
Experience with humanoids, multi-contact control, whole-body planning, or balance control
Experience with distributed GPU training and sim-to-real pipelines
Publications at NeurIPS/ICLR/RSS/CoRL/CVPR
Familiarity with ROS2, unitree-sdk, LCM, or real-time control loops
Benefits
Competitive compensation
Equity
Large-scale compute
Company
Fractal Labs Inc.
Founded in 2025
2-10 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageCompany data provided by crunchbase