Master Thesis Student (m/f/d) - Physical AI with Vision Language Action (VLA) Models in Robotics

Job description

Modern Vision Language Action (VLA) models perform well on short‑horizon robotic tasks but often struggle with long‑term planning and multi‑step control. A promising direction is to enhance VLA architectures by integrating them with Physical AI models capable of understanding physical effects, e.g. for challenging, unstructured environments. For such VLA-based physical AI systems, the project aims to evaluate and quantify a robot’s action‑generation capability of a physical AI VLA model for more challenging, unstructured environments, and to develop a clearer understanding how these contribute to more stable and capable long‑horizon action generation. Research Areas Survey state-of-the-art VLA models and world-model approaches; Implement and benchmark physical variants using a VLA framework; Develop simulation-based setups for model evaluation in challenging scenarios; Explore and validate improved integration strategies based on the findings (if feasible); Identify and design task-specific fine-tuning strategies to improve model performance (if feasible). Currently enrolled in a Computer Science / Engineering Master studies with a focus on data analysis, automotive, engineering or similar Basic understanding of and strong interest in robotics Basic understanding of computer vision Ability to understand and run modern deep-learning and robotics codebases Proficiency in Python or C/C++ Experience with physical AI, world models, and simulation is a plus Home office : Possibility to work from home Health : Yearly health & wellbeing days, Urban Sports Club membership Attractive working environment : Modern offices, canteen onsite and free parking Open company culture : Diverse, multicultural team Events: Regular company & team events It has come to our attention that various individuals have contacted people offering false employment opportunities with DENSO. Such scams are fraudulent and intended to steal from the victims. By making you aware of this, we hope to avoid and ultimately stop victims from falling for this scam. Please do not provide any personal or financial information and do not send any money to anyone you suspect of recruitment fraud. If you are contacted by someone whom you suspect may not be appropriately representing DENSO, please email: . Please forward the original email that you received that includes the original subject line and complete header information. Do not send CVs or vacancy applications to that email address as it will not be reviewed or considered. If you wish to apply for a job, please submit your application for an open position to As an automotive supplier, DENSO is leading in developing and providing components and systems for heating, air conditioning, motor cooling, exhaust gas aftertreatment, automotive electrics and electronics and instrumentation.