Robotic Learning Intern

Efference - Robust Robotic Perception
Location: North Beach, San Francisco, CA
Employment Type: Paid Intern - Full Time In Person
Location Type: On-site
Duration: June 15th - August 14th (9 weeks)
Department: Engineering
Company Overview
Efference builds robust, high-performance robotic perceptual systems that make robots easier to develop and faster to deploy. Our technology integrates proprietary optical designs, advanced sensor fusion, depth estimation, image sensor processing, and tightly optimized hardware-software stacks to enable reliable perception across general and specialized robotic systems.
We are currently deploying the first generation of vision systems with state-of-the-art hardware and software while actively prototyping generations two and three of our core perceptual system.
Efference was founded by Gianluca Bencomo, a PhD student at Princeton University whose research spans visual neuroscience, Bayesian filtering for fast and robust sensor fusion, neural network inductive biases, and robotics perception. The company is backed by Y Combinator and Anti Fund.
Role Overview
As a Robotics Intern at Efference, you will work on real, open ended problems at the core of modern robotics and perception. Interns are expected to operate with a high degree of ownership, and curiosity while navigating ambiguity and rapidly evolving technical challenges.
This internship is for students who want to take on hard problems and build things that matter. Progress comes from iteration, focus, and persistence not shortcuts.
You will be supported by a technical mentor, but success in this role requires initiative and strong fundamentals in engineering and problem solving. Efference interns build alongside the team.
What You’ll Do

• Contribute directly to robotics, perception, or systems level projects with real world constraints.
• Take ownership of a defined long term internship project with guidance from a technical mentor. This will be talked through and drawn up ahead of the start date.
• Execute short term tasks such as testing, prototyping, data analysis, debugging, or documentation.
• Present progress and learnings through weekly demos and a longer presentation at the end of the internship.
• Collaborate closely with engineers and adapt quickly as priorities evolve.
• Learn how production grade robotics systems are built, evaluated, and improved.
  

Required Qualifications

• Currently a junior or senior undergraduate student, or a master’s student, pursuing a degree in one of the following (or a closely related field):
• Robotics Engineering
• Computer Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Applied Mathematics or similar technical discipline
• Strong performance in relevant coursework, including:
• Robotics or Autonomous Systems
• Computer Vision
• Control Systems
• Proficiency in Python and C/C++
• Demonstrated ability to work through complex technical problems
• Comfort operating in environments with limited structure and evolving requirements
• Ability to take initiative while incorporating feedback
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands on experience with robotics platforms or sensors
• Familiarity with:
• ROS2 or similar robotics frameworks
• Computer vision libraries (e.g., OpenCV)
• 3D geometry, perception, or sensor fusion
• Experience from labs, research projects, internships, or personal projects
• Interest in AI, perception, or autonomous systems
  

What You’ll Gain

• Hands on experience working on real robotics systems
• Mentorship from experienced engineers
• Exposure to how a robotics startup operates
• Opportunity to be considered for a future full time role based on performance and company needs