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At Viam, we believe in nurturing the next generation of engineers and breaking down barriers in smart machine technology. That’s why this summer, we welcomed 13 talented interns to our Engineering team.
Our internship program is part of our mission to create a more accessible future in smart machines and automation. These bright minds dove headfirst into challenging projects, working alongside our full-time staff to contribute directly to Viam's platform development.
As their time with us came to a close, we sat down with a few of them to hear about their experiences and the impact of their summer at Viam.
Daniel Botros
Netcode team
Rising Senior at Cornell University
Tell us about your experience
"I interned on the Netcode team this summer, which is responsible for managing the resource lifecycles, the module operations, and robot logging and monitoring.
We also handle connections between machines, resources, the Viam app, and other robots."
What was your favorite project you worked on?
“Due to the overwhelming number of disorganized log lines, which made debugging machines difficult, my task this summer was to enhance Viam's logging capabilities with configurable logging using pattern-matching.
The new feature allows users to add a "log" section to their robot's configuration, enabling them to write regex-like patterns of logger names to adjust their verbosity. Users can now easily and expressively control the log output, making it simpler to debug and monitor their machines.”
How has your mentorship experience been?
“My mentor has shown great interest in my growth and development as an engineer during my internship, providing ample feedback and support, and giving me the independence to scope out and make important decisions related to my project.”
How does this internship compare to others you have had?
“One notable feature is the amount of say I have in choosing what I work on, and how I execute it, which has made the experience more interesting and valuable to my career growth.”
Allison Chiang
Micro-RDK team
Rising Senior at University of Texas at Dallas
Tell us about your experience
“I interned on the Micro-RDK team, which develops and maintains Viam’s hardware drivers and component software for microcontrollers.
Basically, we write Rust code, flash it into microcontrollers, and this code determines the machine's behavior with Viam’s integration.”
What was your favorite project you worked on?
“I worked on a feature that detected changes in the Viam app and restarted the Micro-RDK machine. I initially thought it would be simple, but I ran into so many design questions which were super interesting to answer and allowed me to think through how a robot should act.”
Describe the interview process
“The interview process had one recruiter phone screen, an initial technical screen, and then a ‘super day’ with two technicals and a hiring manager talk.
Out of all the companies I interviewed with, I felt like my interviewers for Viam were the most passionate about their job, and excited to learn about me. They also communicated very quickly and got back to me fast after each interview!”
What have you enjoyed about NYC?
“I've enjoyed how much there is to do here! Between intern events, fellowship (HackNY) events, company socials, and hanging out with my roommates, I feel like I have something happening every night and every weekend.”
Jalen Geason
Fleet Management team
Rising Senior at Johns Hopkins University
Tell us about your experience
"I interned with the Fleet team, focusing on Viam's web app, which is the main interface for Viam’s customers and users interacting with the platform.
We also manage Viam Fleet, the app’s fleet management solution, which enables users to efficiently manage and control multiple machines (potentially thousands) through Viam."
What was your favorite project you worked on?
"I worked primarily on fragments, which allow users to configure multiple robots using a reusable configuration, rather than setting up each robot individually.
My specific project involved developing the fragment history page, tracking and displaying all edits made to a fragment. This page provides organization owners with detailed information about each edit, and allows users to restore previous configuration versions."
How does this internship compare to others you have had?
"The speed at which my code moves into production is a significant differentiator. It's incredibly rewarding to ship a feature and then see it live the next day. Additionally, my decisions and projects directly impact shaping the Viam platform—something I haven't experienced in previous internships."
What do you think the future of robotics looks like now that you’ve worked at Viam?
“I believe the future of robotics is incredibly promising! The field is becoming more accessible, lowering the barriers to entry.
It won’t be long before Viam-powered machines are everywhere—at home, in schools, on the road, and in workplaces worldwide. I’m excited to be part of this journey.”
Joseph Borodach
Core Services & Resilience team
Rising Senior at Yeshiva University
Tell us about your experience
“I interned on the Core team, which is responsible for managing the foundational systems that power our product. This means diving into the intricate world of distributed systems, ensuring everything scales perfectly, and optimizing performance to handle anything we throw at it. It’s a blast!”
What was your favorite project you worked on?
"What sets Viam apart is their commitment to giving interns impactful, high-quality projects.
During my internship, building a job scheduler was my favorite. This tool runs jobs at specific intervals and handles over a dozen crucial company tasks, including our billing system.”
How does this internship compare to others you have had?
"Hands down, the best. Viam's internship offers the perfect blend of a close-knit environment where you get to know most of the company and a mature setup with top-notch, growth-focused projects. Viam is the ideal place to intern."
What do you think the future of robotics looks like now that you’ve worked at Viam?
"Robots are the future, and I see Viam leading the charge. Its innovative approach and cutting-edge technology position them to drive significant advancements in the robotics industry. It's exciting to think about the possibilities and Viam's role in shaping the future."
Maria Patni
RDK team
Rising Senior at University of Michigan
Tell us about your experience
"I interned on the RDK team this summer where we create drivers for all hardware supported by the Viam platform, writing low-level code that enables a computer’s OS to communicate with the device's hardware.”
What was your favorite project you worked on?
"My main project was developing a pin control module for the Raspberry Pi 5. On generic Linux boards, the pin control allows Viam to support additional functionality beyond GPIO (general-purpose input/output). We can now support hardware pulse width modulation (PWM) and pull-up/pull-down resistors, which is pretty cool!"
I also started working on expanding our controls package from single input/output to multi-input/output."
How has your mentorship experience been?
My mentorship experience has been awesome. Before this project, I had no practical experience in computer hardware engineering—I didn’t even know what PWM was! My mentor took the time to teach me the fundamental concepts and pair program with me whenever I got stuck.”
Ankit Khandelwal
Motion Planning team
Rising Senior at Carnegie Mellon University
Tell us about your experience
"I interned for the Motion Planning team. Our job is to take in the environment around us and generate paths for our robots to follow, navigating around obstacles while respecting hardware constraints. We currently support developing plans for robotic arms and wheeled bases."
What was your favorite project you worked on?
"My favorite project was developing a custom trajectory generator for a robotic arm. One of the main arms we support exhibited jerky behavior when moving through waypoints generated by our motion planner.
My intern project involved adding a trajectory generation layer to smooth the arm's motion by calculating non-zero velocities and time durations at each waypoint. It was a highly enjoyable applied-research project, and seeing the smooth behavior in the end was extremely rewarding!"
What have you enjoyed about NYC?
"I like how accessible everything is. Despite the city's size, the public transport makes it easy to get anywhere in a reasonable time. This means I always have the opportunity to check out new food places, go to jazz clubs, or meet up with friends."
How does this internship compare to others you have had?
"This internship has allowed me to explore more and take greater ownership of my project. The task was presented as a vague problem, giving me full responsibility for how to solve it. This required me to conduct my own research, tinker, and propose solutions."
Dhriti Naidu
Computer Vision team
Master's Student at Georgia Tech
Tell us about your experience
“I interned on the Computer Vision (CV) team! The team does a combination of client work and building CV modules for the Viam platform.”
What was your favorite project you worked on?
I worked for a client in the food and beverage industry, developing a CV model to check whether a food item is correctly placed in its to-go container without damage.
Through this project, I learned that teaching a computer to 'see' is more challenging than it seems, but I gained many CV fundamentals along the way. I used techniques like Otsu's algorithm for thresholding and Canny Edge Detection to help my model assess the item’s integrity. It was incredibly rewarding when it finally worked!"
How has your mentorship experience been?
"It's been the highlight of my internship. My mentor tailored the experience to what I wanted to learn, giving me the opportunity to challenge myself with new concepts. The entire team was incredibly supportive, fostering a friendly and casual environment where I felt comfortable asking for help.
Additionally, the mentorship from the Women and Non-binary Group at Viam was wonderful, including a memorable painting outing in Central Park."
Favorite social activity this summer!
"Lunch at Viam was the best way to socialize! It was a great time to bond with other interns and anyone else at the company. The kitchen would be lively, with everyone engrossed in conversations or games—you'd hear everything from echoing laughter to intense debates."
Interested in our 2025 internship program? Keep an eye on our careers page—applications open in early September 2024.
