Acrylic is Hiring: Robotics/ROS Intern (Part-Time)
The TL;DR:
- Robotics/ROS Intern, part-time paid 2-month long role starting March 14
- 80-100 hours, $1500 stipend
- In-person position (IRL in Montreal, QC)
- Unfortunately for this role, we can only consider Canadian citizens/permanent residents
- Applications accepted on a rolling basis
- Role details in the ‘ABOUT YOU’ section below
ABOUT US
What is Acrylic?
Paintings can take weeks to make by hand. Artists have to charge thousands for each piece to earn a decent living. This means artists must often choose between two options: trying to reach the upper-class elite through galleries or undercharging for their work while working a second job to make ends meet. This means the general public is priced out of the art world, and artists are limited to a niche audience.
We’re on a mission to change that binary. Our technology lets artists make limited-edition painted replicas of original pieces. Artists can have our tech make full reproductions or use it as part of their creative process. They’re able to scale and generate orders of magnitude more profit per design and can make their work accessible to the general public.
Getting there means developing a new way to digitize the painting process. Our ML algorithms learn an artist’s style and generate a unique fingerprint of machine code that can be used to teach a robotic arm to replay each brushstroke. So… Welcome to Acrylic!
We’re an early stage, fast-growing tech startup based in Montreal with deep ties to the entrepreneurial ecosystems in Montreal and Toronto, having been previously accelerated through NEXT Canada’s Next 36 program, Centech (ETS) Acceleration program, Front Row Ventures’ Women Founders’ Project, and the McGill Engine Centre for Engineering Entrepreneurship & Innovation. We’re currently incubated within Centech’s 2-year Propulsion program for promising deep-tech ventures, just won Centech’s Techno Innovante prize for the company developing tech with the greatest IP & commercial promise. We were recently named one of Canada’s companies ‘Top 10 Startups to Watch’ by GRIT Magazine.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking to onboard a part-time intern eager to get hands-on experience with robotics at Acrylic. We want to find someone passionate about Acrylic and eager to learn and grow alongside the company. This is a paid internship with the potential for a continued position if the fit is right. You will be working directly alongside our engineers and joining a young, fun, multidisciplinary team of artists, engineers, and art-lovers. Your work will be hybrid, but you must be able to work IRL whenever needed.
Why might you like working at Acrylic?
- We’re mission-driven and care deeply about radically changing the status quo in the art world. The problem we’re solving is massive and your work has the potential to impact millions around the globe. You’ll get to be part of something big when it’s just getting started.
- We’re a small, tight-knit team — we move quickly and loathe all things bureaucracy. You’ll have a chance to see your contributions implemented in real time.
- You’ll wear all the hats, and will have the freedom to make big, autonomous decisions with big impact. We promise you a lightning-fast feedback loop that will allow you to grow and improve far faster than you would working as a cog in a big corporate machine making relatively few decisions of consequence.
- We don’t just work with cutting-edge tech; we build cutting-edge tech — stuff that doesn’t exist yet. You won’t be following cookie-cutter recipes and ticking boxes.
- Whether working remotely or in-person, you’ll have full autonomy over how you spend your days — no micro-managing. You’ll learn how to set ambitious but achievable sprint targets, and we’ll help build a work environment that lets you do your best work. No twiddling thumbs waiting for 5 pm to hit in a stuffy office.
- You’ll have the chance to meet and learn from founders, other interns/employees and mentors at some of Canada’s most promising up and coming startups innovating in the deeptech/ medtech/ AI/ quantum/ telecommunication spaces.
Why might you not like working at Acrylic?
- Unfortunately, we’re a small team and can’t provide direct close mentorship for junior developers. If you work best being instructed by people who have done your job before (rather than self-teaching/“figuring it out”/learning alongside others) and need access to someone with all the answers to make progress on bugs, we might not be the best place for you (right now). We ❤ Stack Overflow.
- We don’t have the bandwidth (or desire) to micro-manage and provide constant support and direction. If you’re someone who depends on external motivation, eagle-eyed managers and frequent instruction to work efficiently, you probably won’t do your best work here.
ABOUT YOU: OUR FUTURE Robotics/ROS Intern
Duties and Responsibilities
As a Robotics/ROS intern at Acrylic, you will play a key role in scoping, designing, and coding the architecture and processes of our robotic arm. In addition to working with current team members on the robotics development, you will have the opportunity to present your work to the executive team and scope out future needs and requirements of our robotic systems. In broad strokes, this could look like:
- building and testing multiple ROS functions for our robotic arm, including paint dipping and cleaning
- Researching best practices for ROS planning and execution
- Documentation of code and development of Readme
Knowledge and Skills — Technical
Baseline:
- Familiarity with robotics and ROS
- Experience with APIs, plugins, interfacing
- Software development experience
Knowledge and Skills — General
Baseline:
- Self-starter, autonomy: you can take on a project, scope it and get to work. You prefer work environments where you have a significant amount of responsibility and autonomy and are able to self-manage and make key decisions.
- Grit, resourcefulness, creative problem-solving: you can always find a solution to something, even if it’s not perfect, and you’re able to think outside the box.
- Curiosity: you’re a forever learner with an inquisitive mind who wants to understand how everything works. You’re not afraid to pick up a textbook and teach yourself a new skill that’s needed that falls outside your pre-existing knowledge base.
INTERVIEW PROCESS
Steps
- Form: Fill out this form — we’ll ask for your CV, basic information and a few simple questions. The form should take you <20 mins. (https://forms.gle/gkHh4arq3WoJvRyy6)
- Technical conversation: if we think you’ll be a good fit, you’ll be invited to a technical conversation with a member of our tech team to do a deep dive into your experience and interests. Things like robotic frameworks you’ve used, how you make technical decisions, and what skills you want to develop.
Timeline
We are looking for someone to start as soon as possible, ideally March 14th (if this doesn’t work for you, we can look into alternative options but we unfortunately can’t offer a ton of flexibility due to end dates of our subsidies).
We will be accepting applications until March 9th — preference given to early applicants. We’ll get back to you about moving onto the interview stage by March 10th at the latest. (if you haven’t heard from us in 3 days, feel free to send a follow-up email to ben@acrylicrobotics.ca to make sure your profile didn’t get stuck between desks).
Thank you for your interest in Acrylic!