Undergraduate Research Assistant

The IRL² Lab at Oakland University is seeking a SOPHOMORE or JUNIOR undergraduate research assistant to support ongoing research in social robotics and affective computing. Our mission is to advance emotionally intelligent and socially aware robotic systems that can interact naturally with people across diverse contexts.

Responsibilities
Assist in designing and running human–robot interaction experiments.
Collect and annotate multimodal data (speech, facial expression, body movement).
Support development and testing of AI-driven robot behaviors.
Contribute to data analysis and literature reviews.

Preferred Qualifications
Sophomore or Junior-year student in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, or a related field at Oakland University
Basic programming skills in Python; familiarity with ROS or machine learning is a plus.
Interest in robotics, human-AI interaction, and the connection of human science with affective computing

Benefits:
Hands-on experience with advanced robotics and AI technology.
Mentorship from experienced researchers.
Opportunities for publications and conference presentations.
A collaborative and innovative work environment.
Undergrads research assistants stipend based on the OU rate.
Opportunity to start a fully-funded MSc or direct PhD after graduation.
-We start in January 2026.

To apply, send your resume and a brief statement of interest to shahverdi@oakland.edu with the subject line “Undergraduate RA Application-Social Robotics.”