Robotics Engineer Intern - Autonomous Navigation

Do you want to dive in the fast-growing industry of drones and get a rewarding experience in a dynamic scale-up environment?

At Flyability, we believe that robots should be sent into hazardous places and dangerous environments instead of humans. To support our belief, we created Elios, the world’s first collision-tolerant flying robot that can safely enter, survey, and inspect confined spaces so that people don’t have to. With more than 130 employees, Flyability is the pioneer in the UAS indoor inspection industry. Joining Flyability is not just taking on a new job; it is seizing the opportunity to improve the lives of millions of people and contribute to the future of robotics.

To complete our creative and dynamic team in Lausanne, we are seeking a:

Robotics Engineer Intern - Autonomous Navigation (100%)
Ideal starting date:

Your role:
In this role, you’ll help advance the navigation capabilities of our autonomous drone platform, improving how robotic systems perceive, navigate, and operate in complex indoor environments. Working directly on our production-grade platform, the Elios 3, you will research, develop, and validate navigation and autonomy-related capabilities, bridging cutting-edge robotics research with real-world deployment.

What you will own:

• Navigation Capabilities: Research, design, and implement methods that improve autonomous navigation and environmental understanding for robotic systems operating in complex environments.
• Planning & Decision Making: Develop and improve algorithms supporting autonomous operation while balancing reliability, efficiency, and mission requirements.
• System Integration & Validation: Integrate new capabilities into an existing navigation and autonomy stack and validate performance through simulation and real-world experiments on the drone platform.
• Performance Evaluation: Define evaluation criteria and assess system performance across key dimensions such as robustness, efficiency, reliability, and overall system behavior.

Requirements

Your profile:

• Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science, or a related engineering field
• Previous experience in robotics, autonomous navigation, exploration, motion planning, SLAM, or related fields
• Strong programming skills in C++ and Python with experience in ROS1/ROS2
• Experience implementing and validating robotics algorithms on real systems (beyond purely theoretical or simulation work)
• Solid understanding of topics such as path planning, state estimation, mapping, probabilistic robotics, or optimization
• Experience with drones is a plus
• Hands-on mindset with strong analytical skills and the ability to bridge research ideas with practical deployment
• Comfortable reading and implementing concepts from scientific literature
• Fluent in English. French or other languages are a plus

Flyability is a Swiss company with over 10 years of experience that values independent thinking combined with a collaborative spirit. Every day, you will have the opportunity to share your ideas and contribute to solving problems. We all work together, and each voice is considered as we collaborate to achieve our goals.

Ready to join?
We know the confidence gap and impostor syndrome can get in the way of meeting spectacular candidates, so please don't hesitate to apply —regardless of your past experience or resume, we'd love to hear from you.

Automated Screening Notice: Please note that Flyability uses automated eligibility questions as part of our initial screening process. If your application does not meet these mandatory requirements, it will be automatically excluded from further consideration. If you submit an application and believe it was incorrectly excluded by the system, you have the right to request a manual review. Please reach out to our HR team at to request human intervention.