---
title: 'AI Research Intern: Foundation Models at GrayMatter Robotics'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/ai-research-intern-foundation-models-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-1mfjhpp08ywd'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# AI Research Intern: Foundation Models at GrayMatter Robotics

- **Company:** GrayMatter Robotics
- **Location:** Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-26
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/graymatter-robotics/dea0f08d-ebf5-4e55-b9cb-e6302014f429

## Job description

Summary

GrayMatter Robotics is a well-capitalized Physical AI company headquartered in Los Angeles, building Factory SuperIntelligence (FSI) through systems that learn, adapt, and develop genuine process intelligence across every part they touch. Our robots take on the tedious, hazardous, and ergonomically demanding work that has kept manufacturing dependent on a shrinking skilled workforce, delivering superhuman performance. Robotics has a demo problem. GMR doesn't. Our systems are in active production today, adapting autonomously to real geometries, real materials, and real process variation without reprogramming. We deliver our system through a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) model that converts capital expenditure into an operating subscription, making Physical AI accessible to the manufacturers who need it most. We hire people who want to solve hard physical problems at an industrial scale.

As the AI Research Intern: Foundation Models, you will join the Special Projects: AI team, a cross-functional group responsible for designing, building, and operationalizing AI capabilities across GMR’s products and customer deployments. The team operates end-to-end from problem formulation and data strategy to model development, simulation, deployment, and long-term performance monitoring collaborating closely with robotics software, solutions engineering, applications, process engineering, hardware, and deployment teams. The team’s mandate is to ensure that AI systems scale across processes, customers, and sites, and perform reliably on real robots in real factories, today, not just in controlled demonstrations.

What to Expect

- Work with the Special Projects AI team to work on next generation of foundation models that power GrayMatter Robotics Solutions (FSI)
- Take on real, complex, ambiguous problems and work through them on accelerated timelines, largely independently
- Develop foundation models for high precision manufacturing applications with multi-modal data beyond Vision or Force alone
- Validate models through rigorous testing on real world industrial robots and actual production parts
- Own the entire project lifecycle: data curation, simulation, model training, evaluation and robot deployment
- Write maintainable, production quality code for internal R&D

Export Control Requirements

In order to comply with the export regulations of the United States Government, it is required that the applicant must fall under one of the following categories: (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful permanent resident (i.e. current green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158.

## What You’ll Bring

- Currently pursuing a PhD in Robotics, AI, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering or related fields
- Research experience in Foundation Models for robot manipulation applications
- Proficiency in Python and at least one deep learning framework: PyTorch is preferred
- Strong working knowledge and deep understanding of current World Models and Foundation Model Research
- Demonstrated experience working with simulation environments and/or physics-based modeling for robotics (e.g. Isaac Lab or MuJoCo)
- Experience with reinforcement learning, imitation learning, or policy optimization for robotic manipulation or process control
- Experience with robotics middleware and tooling (e.g., ROS/ROS2) and deployment on real robotic hardware
- A publication track record in venues such as ICRA, CoRL, RSS, IROS, RA-L, or T-RO, balanced with a strong bias toward real-world production impact

## Nice to Have’s

- Experience with VLA/VLM training
- Experience with industrial manipulators and demonstration of research deployed in industrial environments

GrayMatter Robotics provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage and embrace applicants of all backgrounds to apply!

GrayMatter Robotics is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities. If you believe you require accommodations during the recruiting process, please contact accommodations@graymatter-robotics.com to submit your request.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Depending on the position and if listed, compensation may include the base salary range, bonus or commission, and equity. We also provide comprehensive benefits and perks which include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, unlimited PTO, 401(k) plan + employer match, regular offsite events, a discretionary fund for enhancing productivity and so much more! The range listed on job postings reflect the minimum and maximum new hire salary across levels in Los Angeles, CA.

## About GrayMatter Robotics

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: GrayMatter Robotics builds AI-powered robotic solutions that automate complex surface finishing and treatment tasks for high-mix, high-variability manufacturers, using a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) model to remove upfront capital barriers.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B; $45M raised June 2024)
- **Headquarters**: Los Angeles, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2020
- **Founders**: Ariyan Kabir (CEO) and Brual Shah (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Aerospace, marine, recreational equipment, specialty vehicles, general manufacturing, and government/defense.
- **Target customers**: B2B; mid-market to Fortune 100 manufacturers with high-mix, high-variability surface finishing needs (e.g., sanding, grinding, polishing, coating).
- **Mission statement**: “Enhance human productivity and improve the quality of life by letting robots empower people” (from LinkedIn) — also described as unlocking “The Manufacturing Frontier.”

## Products & Services
- **GMR-AI™ (Factory SuperIntelligence)**: Proprietary physics-informed AI that combines perception, planning, control, and learning to enable robots to make real-time decisions on complex parts. Adapts to any part, process, or environment and improves with each shift.
- **Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) Subscription**: A service model that bundles hardware, software, training, and 24/7 support for a monthly fee — eliminating large CapEx investments and letting manufacturers scale usage.
- **Smart Robotic Cells**: Turnkey robotic work cells designed for surface treatment and finishing, delivering 4–12x throughput vs. manual labor with guaranteed quality outcomes and 30–70% reduction in waste.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed.
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue: $53.0M (LinkedIn estimate) | Total Funding: ~$70.4M raised across 4 rounds.
- **Notable Investors**: Wellington Management (Series B lead), Bow Capital (Series A lead), Calibrate Ventures, Stage Venture Partners, National Science Foundation (grants).
- **Growth Signals**: 106 employees (+27.8% YoY); expanded presence into Mexico; serves Fortune 100 customers; recipient of the RBR50 Innovation Award (2022) recognizing top 50 robotics innovators globally; 9 active job postings (as of mid-2025).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Physics-inspired AI**: Combines real-world process knowledge with data-driven learning, enabling rapid deployment and reconfiguration across wildly different parts and materials.
- **Large proprietary manufacturing dataset**: Trained on the world’s largest multi-modal manufacturing process dataset, giving the system a unique ability to generalize.
- **Subscription model**: Lowers adoption risk for manufacturers, contrasting with traditional capital-intensive automation purchases.
- **Proven waste reduction**: Guarantees 30–70% reduction in scrap, repair, and rework costs, with superhuman precision and speed.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling commercial operations with Fortune 100 customers and expanding into new verticals (government, defense).
- Deepening the AI stack (Factory SuperIntelligence) to handle an ever-wider range of geometries, materials, and applications.
- Growing the team (especially robotics engineers, AI engineers, and sales) to meet accelerating demand and build the next generation of adaptive manufacturing solutions.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as “audacious,” customer-first, first-principles thinking, transparent, trusting, and team-oriented. Employees tackle genuinely hard engineering problems while maintaining a fun, collaborative environment.
- **Recognition**: Voted one of the Top 50 Best Places to Work in LA (BuiltIn); won the RBR50 Innovation Award.
- **Engineering focus**: Opportunity to work at the intersection of AI, robotics, and manufacturing — building real-world systems that go from research to factory floor quickly.
- **Work model**: Likely on-site/hybrid in Los Angeles (based on office-centric culture described). Perks not explicitly detailed, but emphasis on impact, innovation, and growth trajectory.
- **Team composition**: Strong technical backbone (43% technical staff; 35% specialists; senior leadership includes CTO/co-founder deeply involved). Recent hires from top universities (USC, UCLA, Notre Dame) and companies (Apple, 3M).

## Sources
1. [graymatter-robotics.com](https://factory.graymatter-robotics.com/) (Homepage – product and mission)
2. [graymatter-robotics.com](https://factory.graymatter-robotics.com/about-us/) (About Us – detailed mission, technology, subscription model)
3. [graymatter-robotics.com](https://factory.graymatter-robotics.com/careers/) (Careers – culture, RBR50 award, funding, job listings)
4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/graymatter-robotics) (LinkedIn – revenue, funding breakdown, headcount, executives, employee trends)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/graymatter-robotics) (Current open positions)

## Other roles at GrayMatter Robotics

- [Research Administrator](https://feeny.ai/job/research-administrator-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-tqk49kfvaced) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- [Sr. Robotics Design Engineer: Government Projects](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-robotics-design-engineer-government-projects-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-2kq4k02qycve) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- [Robotics Software Engineer: Government Projects](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-software-engineer-government-projects-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-91b516vkhvg2) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- [Robotics Engineer (New Grad): Government Projects](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-engineer-new-grad-government-projects-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-05q1k0y2yhkn) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- [Sales Development Representative](https://feeny.ai/job/sales-development-representative-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-66w8ea1vbza6) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- [Financial Analyst](https://feeny.ai/job/financial-analyst-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-c6k94wq6v53d) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- [Supply Chain Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/supply-chain-manager-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-8vaygxxz70nj) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- [Staff Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-design-engineer-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-2a34kh00a4ax) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- [Staff Mechatronics Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-mechatronics-engineer-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-gh82kr1rv6c7) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ
- [Hardware Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-technician-graymatter-robotics-los-angeles-a0fwvwvd7z4a) — Los Angeles, CA / HQ