# Robotics Software Intern, Manipulation & Simulation at Valstad > Onsite · United States · Intern · Software engineering · open. Source: https://alderhq.app/jobs/ashby%3Avalstad%3A8478558b-c5b5-43d2-b9c0-eae7a1fb30d8 (read 2026-11-05). ## Facts (observed) - Company: [Valstad](https://alderhq.app/companies/valstad) - Location text: Austin - Where it can be done from (inferred): Onsite · United States (evidence: "Location: Austin") - Posted: 2026-08-31 (66 days ago) - First seen by alder: 2026-11-02 · last verified: 2026-11-03 - Reposted: 0 times · edited: 0 times - Apply on the employer's site: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/valstad/8478558b-c5b5-43d2-b9c0-eae7a1fb30d8 - Skills listed (inferred): Python, Rust, Ruby/Rails ## Pay and sponsorship - Posted pay: not posted - Market band for similar posted roles (Austin, n 15): p25 $73k, median $123k, p75 $123k ## Description (the employer's text) ### About Valstad Valstad is building the machine that builds the ships. We combine industrial robotics, welding, sensing, and AI to turn 3D models into real high-mix ship structure. Our mission is to rapidly expand America's maritime output by 100x. Our team works directly with large industrial robots and real manufacturing equipment at our Austin facility. The systems we build will ultimately be deployed across shipyards and industrial facilities throughout the country. ### About Valstad Valstad is rebuilding how ships are made. American shipbuilding is constrained by slow, labor-intensive production methods and a shortage of skilled manufacturing capacity. We are developing robotic production systems that can turn engineering data directly into finished steel structures, dramatically reducing the time and manual programming required to build ships. Our first platform combines industrial robots, automated material handling, welding, sensing and AI-driven manufacturing software to produce large ship panels and structural assemblies. Instead of programming each new part by hand, our goal is for the system to understand the CAD model, determine how the structure should be assembled and welded, and generate the robotic plan required to build it. Achieving that requires solving difficult robotics problems involving kinematics, coordinate frames, motion planning, simulation, calibration, collision checking, sensor integration and execution on real industrial hardware. The software you build will be tested against full-scale industrial robots in our Austin facility, not only in simulation. ### The Internship Valstad is seeking a Robotics Software Intern to work on manipulation, motion-planning, simulation or robot-verification software. You will own a defined technical project that improves the reliability, performance or diagnosability of Valstad’s robotic manufacturing systems. Depending on your background and our current priorities, you may work on planning algorithms, simulation infrastructure, coordinate-frame visualization, calibration analysis, robot-log replay or automated path verification. This is not a shadowing program or a collection of disconnected research tasks. You will be expected to implement, test and document a working capability that can become part of Valstad’s robotics platform. You will work closely with a robotics engineer and will receive structured mentorship, code review and access to real robotic systems. ### Potential Projects Your primary project will be selected based on your experience and Valstad’s highest-priority technical needs. Possible projects include: Building a motion-planning regression-test suite using representative manufacturing scenarios Developing tools for visualizing coordinate frames, transforms, robot poses and calibration results Generating reachability maps for robots mounted on linear rails Testing inverse-kinematics continuity along long Cartesian paths Detecting singularities, wrist flips, joint-limit conditions and trajectory discontinuities Creating automated collision-checking and path-validation scenarios Building a robot-log replay system for reproducing hardware failures in simulation Comparing commanded, simulated and physically executed robot trajectories Developing cycle-time prediction and trajectory-analysis tools Evaluating planning algorithms for constrained welding or scanning paths Building tools for calibration-data analysis and error visualization Supporting integration of a laser scanner, camera, force sensor or other non-safety-critical device Developing simulation models for robots, fixtures, tools and workpieces Improving visualization of robot work envelopes, collision geometry and external axes Creating automated pre-execution checks for generated robot programs ### What You Will Do Design and implement a scoped robotics-software project. Work with rust, Python or both. Use simulation and recorded data to test your work. Work with rigid-body transformations, robot kinematics and 3D geometry where relevant. Build automated tests for nominal and failure scenarios. --- Data: alder (https://alderhq.app). Cite https://alderhq.app/jobs/ashby%3Avalstad%3A8478558b-c5b5-43d2-b9c0-eae7a1fb30d8 and the date you read it. Observed facts come from the employer's own listing; location reach, level, family and skills are inferences.