---
title: 'Co-Op, Robot Perception & State Estimation at Lila Sciences'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/co-op-robot-perception-state-estimation-lila-sciences-cambridge-yznrym7yenxa'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-30'
---

# Co-Op, Robot Perception & State Estimation at Lila Sciences

- **Company:** Lila Sciences
- **Location:** Cambridge, MA
- **Posted:** 2026-10-27
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-30
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/lilasciences/jobs/4467398009

## Job description

## Your Impact at LILA

As a Co-Op on the Production Robotics team at Lila Sciences, you will help build the algorithms and software that let our robots know where they are and what they are looking at, so they can run scientific workflows reliably inside the AI Science Factories (AISFs). The team develops the state estimation, perception, and testing infrastructure that general-purpose robotic skills depend on.

Your work will sit at the intersection of estimation, computer vision, and robotics software. You will help improve how our mobile bases estimate their position and motion, develop camera-based detection and localization of AprilTags and lab instruments, and strengthen the simulation-based testing and CI that validate changes before they reach hardware. Expect a mix of writing production-quality software, applying math to real sensor data, and debugging real-world behavior on physical robots.

You will work alongside robotics engineers, AI researchers, and software engineers, with day-to-day support from the Production Robotics team. The output is software that runs in production lab environments and directly accelerates the rate at which Lila can run experiments.

## What You'll Be Building

- Fuse multi-sensor data to improve mobile base state estimation
- Build camera-based AprilTag and instrument detection and localization for robot manipulation and navigation
- Develop new robot capabilities in ROS 2 (Jazzy)
- Expand simulation-based tests and CI pipelines so changes are validated before deployment on hardware
- Evaluate estimation and perception performance on real robot data and contribute fixes back to the codebase
- Ship production code alongside robotics, software, and AI engineers
- Document algorithms, test approaches, and integration patterns for the rest of the team

## What You'll Need to Succeed

- In-progress Master's (preferred) or strong senior-year Bachelor's in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, with a controls/estimation leaning
- Proficiency in Python and/or C++, with coursework or project experience writing well-tested code
- Familiarity with state estimation and sensor fusion (e.g., Kalman filtering)
- Strong foundation in linear algebra and probability
- Comfort with Git and Linux development environments
- Strong communication skills and ability to work effectively across a multidisciplinary team
- Available for the full spring co-op term

Bonus Points For

- Experience with ROS 2 (Jazzy preferred) or another robotics framework
- Hands-on experience with camera systems and computer vision (e.g., OpenCV, AprilTags, camera calibration)
- Experience with simulation-based testing and CI (e.g., Gazebo, GitHub Actions)
- Experience integrating software with sensors, actuators, or other physical systems
- Coursework or projects in localization, SLAM, or robot control

## About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.

We’re All In

Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our [Candidate Privacy Policy](https://www.lila.ai/candidate-privacy-policy-notice).

A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.

## About Lila Sciences

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Lila Sciences is building the world’s first Scientific Superintelligence platform and autonomous lab, using AI to autonomously generate hypotheses, design and run experiments, and learn from results in real time across life sciences, chemistry, materials, energy, and defense.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Privately Held) – Series A, Seed, and Grant funding rounds
- **Headquarters**: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founded**: Not publicly available (first funding round was Seed in March 2025)
- **Founders**: Not publicly available (founded within Flagship Pioneering’s ecosystem)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: AI-powered scientific discovery and autonomous laboratory platforms
- **Target customers**: B2B – research organizations, biotech, pharmaceutical, energy, materials, aerospace, and defense companies
- **Mission**: “Scientific Superintelligence to solve humankind’s greatest challenges” – accelerating discovery across medicine, materials, energy, and defense

## Products & Services
- **LILA Platform (Scientific Superintelligence)**: An AI model and operating system that autonomously executes the entire scientific method – generating hypotheses, designing experiments, running them in physical labs, and learning from results in real time.
- **AI Science Factory™ Instruments**: Proprietary hardware and robotics that serve as the “body” of the platform, enabling automated experimentation at scale.
- **Domain-specific applications**: Tailored solutions for biotech (drug discovery, protein engineering), therapeutics (mRNA, antibodies, cell therapies), energy & environment (clean fuels, catalysis, critical minerals), advanced materials, chemicals, aerospace & defense, and oil & gas.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding – USD $550.7M (as of LinkedIn data)
  - Seed Round (March 2025): $200M led by Flagship Pioneering
  - Series A (September 2025): $235M led by Braidwell and Collective Global Management
  - Series A (November 2025): $115M led by NVentures (NVIDIA)
  - Grant (January 2026): $671,400 led by ARIA
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Flagship Pioneering, NVIDIA (NVentures), Braidwell, Collective Global Management, ARIA
- **Growth Signals**: Named #25 on the 2026 CNBC Disruptor 50 List; headcount of 308 employees (monthly growth +10.6%); 122 active job postings; operates in 6 countries (US, UK, Canada, Poland, Spain, Germany)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary AI model** that consistently outperforms other models across scientific domains in complex analysis and reasoning.
- **Autonomous physical labs** that close the loop between AI hypothesis generation and real-world experimentation.
- **“Team of Teams” operating model** enabling startup speed at scale while maintaining radical transparency and high trust.
- **General platform approach** (inspired by Rich Sutton’s “Bitter Lesson”) rather than narrow domain-specific tools, allowing broad applicability.

## Strategic Focus
- Accelerating discovery across medicine, materials, energy, and defense
- Scaling the autonomous science platform to more industries and use cases
- Building “Scientific Superintelligence” that can tackle humanity’s greatest challenges
- Continued investment in AI research, robotics, and lab automation

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Emphasizes velocity, trust, curiosity, truth, and grit. “Think freely, prove precisely.” A high-trust, mission-driven environment where scientists and engineers work side by side.
- **Remote/Hybrid/Office**: Roles are listed in Cambridge, MA; San Francisco, CA; and London, UK. Physical lab presence suggests significant on-site work, but some roles may offer flexibility. Policy not explicitly stated.
- **Notable perks/engineering culture**: Opportunity to work at the frontier of AI and scientific discovery; collaboration with world-renowned experts; access to cutting-edge robotics and AI infrastructure; strong emphasis on learning and teaching (“generous teachers and eager learners”).

## Sources
1. [lila.ai](https://www.lila.ai/)
2. [lila.ai/about](https://www.lila.ai/about)
3. [lila.ai/open-roles](https://www.lila.ai/open-roles)
4. [LinkedIn - Lila Sciences](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lila-sciences)
5. [Greenhouse Job Board](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/lilasciences/jobs/4246302009)

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