{"id":1953639,"url":"https://alion.io/job/abb-thesis-work-depth-aware-physical-ai-models-for-robot-manipulation","title":"Thesis Work -Depth-Aware Physical AI Models for Robot Manipulation","company":{"id":44977,"name":"ABB","domain":"abb.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/abb","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":null},"role":"Early Careers","role_family":"Early Careers","seniority":null,"employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Västerås, Sweden"],"countries":["SE"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false},{"name":"Hugging Face","optional":false},{"name":"LeRobot","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Physical AI","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":false},{"name":"Vision-Language-Action","optional":false}],"status":"closed","first_seen_at":"2026-10-06T11:16:06Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-06","last_verified_at":"2026-10-19T07:40:56Z","board_verified":false,"closed_at":"2026-10-19T07:40:56Z","days_open":12,"trust":{"level":"not_scored","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":12},"description":"At ABB, we help industries outrun - leaner and cleaner. Here, progress is an expectation - for you, your team, and the world. As a global market leader, we’ll give you what you need to make it happen. It won’t always be easy, growing takes grit. But at ABB, you’ll never run alone. Run what runs the world.\nThis role sits within ABB's Robotics business, a leading global robotics company. We're entering an exciting new chapter as we’ve announced the plan for SoftBank Group to acquire ABB Robotics. SoftBank is a globally recognized technology group and investor/operator focused on AI, robotics, and next-generation computing. By joining us now, you’ll be part of a pioneering team shaping the future of robotics-working alongside world-class experts in a fast-moving, innovation-driven environment.\nThis Position reports to:\nR&D Center LeadYour role and responsibilities\nPhysical AI models such as Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models have recently emerged as a promising approach to robot automation. Unlike traditional robot programming, VLA models learn robot manipulation tasks directly from human demonstrations. They take camera images and language instructions as input, and output robot actions directly. Currently, most VLA models rely solely on standard RGB (color) images, which lack explicit spatial and geometric information about the environment.\nThis thesis investigates how to incorporate depth information (e.g., from RGB-D cameras) into VLA or other physical AI models to improve robot manipulation performance.\nThe student is expected to:\nSurvey existing approaches for integrating depth/3D information into VLA or other physical AI robot manipulation policies\nDesign and implement one or more methods to incorporate depth into a VLA or other physical AI model (e.g., as an additional input modality, via 3D representations, or point clouds, etc)\nEvaluate performance on real robot manipulation tasks in ABB's lab environment\nDocument findings and contribute to ABB's Physical AI pipeline\nThe student is encouraged to propose their own ideas on how depth information can best be represented and utilized within the model.\nDetails:\nPeriod: January to July, 2027\nNumber of credits: 30 ECTS/högskolepoäng (hp)\nNumber of students for this thesis work: 1\nLocation: on-site, Västerås\nQualifications for the role\nMaster's student in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, or other related fields\nStrong interest in robot learning, machine learning, computer vision, or physical AI\nProgramming experience in Python and familiarity with deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, huggingface, LeRobot platform).\nExperience with git, docker, etc is a plus.\nExperience with or interest in 3D data (depth images, point clouds) is a plus\nHands-on experience with real robot systems is a plus but not required\nAbility to work independently and communicate findings clearly\nMore about us\nRecruiting Manager LiWei Qi, +46 73 021 2309, Supervisor: Chi Zhang,  , Marco Iannotta  will answer your questions.\nPositions are filled continuously. Please apply with your CV, academic transcripts, and a cover letter in English.\nWe look forward to receiving your application!\nA Future Opportunity\nPlease note that this position is part of our talent pipeline and not an active job opening at this time. By applying, you express your interest in future career opportunities with ABB.\nWe value people from different backgrounds. Could this be your story? Apply today or visit www.abb.com to learn more about us and see the impact of our work across the globe.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3623,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"master","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Power Grid","Industrial Automation","Industrial Robotics"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-06T11:16:06Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-10-19T07:40:56Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":null,"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/abb-thesis-work-depth-aware-physical-ai-models-for-robot-manipulation","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/abb-thesis-work-depth-aware-physical-ai-models-for-robot-manipulation.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-19T13:12:52Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":9437,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-20T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":44977},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=44977"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fabb-thesis-work-depth-aware-physical-ai-models-for-robot-manipulation"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fabb-thesis-work-depth-aware-physical-ai-models-for-robot-manipulation"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fabb-thesis-work-depth-aware-physical-ai-models-for-robot-manipulation"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/abb-thesis-work-depth-aware-physical-ai-models-for-robot-manipulation\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fabb-thesis-work-depth-aware-physical-ai-models-for-robot-manipulation"}]}