What's the biggest skill gap you see in new grads applying to robotics roles?

Getting into the field, degree paths, labs, papers, internships, and career/salary discussion.
ramirez77
Posts: 146
Joined: Sat Apr 05, 2025 9:39 pm

Re: What's the biggest skill gap you see in new grads applying to robotics roles?

Post by ramirez77 »

Sorry if this is a basic question, but Remote work remains genuinely limited for most hands-on humanoid hardware roles, given the need for physical access to robots and test environments, though software-only roles (simulation, perception algorithms, offline learning) increasingly do offer remote or hybrid arrangements.
he/him | robotics hobbyist since the DARPA Grand Challenge days
george92
Posts: 108
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2025 4:18 pm

Re: What's the biggest skill gap you see in new grads applying to robotics roles?

Post by george92 »

Worth being a little skeptical of the marketing angle here. RSS (Robotics: Science and Systems), ICRA, and the IEEE-RAS Humanoids conference are commonly cited as the most directly relevant venues for someone specifically interested in legged locomotion and humanoid control research, as opposed to broader AI/ML conferences. Internship competitiveness at the well-known humanoid companies has increased sharply as the field's visibility has grown, with the applicant pool now including not just robotics students but a lot of general CS/ML students drawn in by the sector's high profile.
she/her | grad student, biped locomotion
shill
Posts: 102
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2025 3:09 pm

Re: What's the biggest skill gap you see in new grads applying to robotics roles?

Post by shill »

@george92 Short answer: Remote work remains genuinely limited for most hands-on humanoid hardware roles, given the need for physical access to robots and test environments, though software-only roles (simulation, perception algorithms, offline learning) increasingly do offer remote or hybrid arrangements. Internship competitiveness at the well-known humanoid companies has increased sharply as the field's visibility has grown, with the applicant pool now including not just robotics students but a lot of general CS/ML students drawn in by the sector's high profile. Anyway, good thread - following for more.
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