Research Scientist Intern, Machine Learning, Character Animation (PhD)

Reinforcement learning and physics-based control for character animation

• Efficient and realistic physics simulation and modeling of human motion Novel input and interfaces for motion synthesis, control, and editing Evaluation of avatar systems Human motion reconstruction, prediction, and analysis
Research Scientist Intern, Machine Learning, Character Animation (PhD) Responsibilities
• Prototyping, building, and analysis of novel research ideas
• Design and execution of algorithms and/or conduct and analysis of experiments
• Collaboration with and support of other researchers across various disciplines
  
  Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining, a PhD in Computer Graphics, Character Animation, Robotics, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Robot Interaction, or related fields
• Must obtain work authorization in country of employment at the time of hire, and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment
• Experience and familiar with technical character animation (joint hierarchies, skinning, motion models, inverse kinematics, numerical optimizations etc.)
• 2+ years of experience with any of Python/pytorch, C/C++, C#/Unity
Preferred Qualifications
• Intent to return to degree-program after the completion of the internship
• 2+ years experience with character animation and/or physical simulation
• Experiences in at least one of the following areas: human motion synthesis, editing, and retargeting, reinforcement learning, self-supervised learning, computer vision, 2D generative modeling, physics simulator, developing in game engines and/or 3D software such as Unity, Unreal, Maya, Blender, conducting perception studies or user studies, building VR applications
• Proven track record of achieving results as demonstrated in accepted papers at top animation, graphics, interaction and perception related journals and conferences such as SIGGRAPH/Asia/TOG, SCA, Eurographics, TVCG, TAP/SAP, CHI, UIST, IEEE VR, MIG, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICRA, IROS, ICLR etc.
• Interpersonal skills: cross-group and cross-culture collaboration
  
  The Reality Labs (RL) Research brings together a world-class team of researchers, developers, and engineers to create the future of AR and VR, which together will become as universal and essential as smartphones and personal computers are today. We are developing all the technologies needed to enable breakthrough AR glasses and VR headsets, including computer vision, graphics, body tracking, perception science, and true telepresence. The Virtual Humans team in Sausalito, CA works on cutting-edge research and development focusing on virtual people and presence. We envision a world where people communicate across vast distances so our roles focus on developing user-friendly tools for expressive character creation and animation. Our internships are twelve (12) to twenty four (24) weeks long and we have various start dates throughout the year. Research Topics: Character animation synthesis, editing, retargeting, and stylization Hand drawn figure analysis, manipulation, and generation