Internship: Vector Feed Kitchen feed mapping with lidar

As an intern in our Vector team, you will contribute to improving the efficiency and intelligence of Lely’s automated feeding solution. Your challenge is to design and validate a measurement method that continuously monitors the available feed in the feed kitchen using LiDAR and laser-based sensing. This information supports farmers with real time insights while also increasing the throughput and reliability of the Vector system. You will design and test your prototype, take it into real farm environments and collaborate closely with hardware, software and electronics engineers to bring your solution onto an actual Vector Feedgrabber.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Select and evaluate suitable sensors, including LiDAR and laser-based technologies.
• Build a prototype and integrate it into the Vector feed kitchen setup.
• Use ROS2 to process sensor data and develop algorithms for feed measurement.
• Transform raw measurement data into meaningful information for the farmer.
• Evaluate system performance compared to the current solution.
• Provide recommendations for further development and improvement.

You are analytical, hands on and motivated to work with real robotic systems in challenging farm environments. You enjoy combining hardware and software and turning raw sensor data into useful insights.

You bring the following:

• You are studying at HBO or WO level in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Industrial Design Engineering or a similar field.
• Experience with Python and or C++ (C plus plus), preferably combined with ROS2.
• Affinity with LiDAR or other laser based sensing technologies.
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills.
• Interest in working with hardware prototypes and testing in realistic environments.

At Lely, we offer you an educational and dynamic internship experience at one of the most innovative organizations in the Netherlands. You’ll become part of a driven team and have plenty of opportunities to further develop your talents.

• An international working environment
• An internship allowance of €650 per month
• A student apartment if your commute is too long
• Our modern Lely Campus gives you daily access to extensive sports facilities: an indoor gym, outdoor padel courts, a basketball and volleyball court, as well as table tennis and foosball. You can join Hyrox workouts or sign up for personal training – and challenge your colleagues during an active break.
• Enjoy fresh coffee and tea from our in-house barista, made with milk straight from our farm, and a healthy, affordable company restaurant.
• A free shuttle bus takes you to and from the metro station in Maassluis, ensuring your workday starts and ends smoothly.
• We’re also proud that our dedication and vision have been recognized with the Rotterdam Entrepreneur Award 2025!

Lely, founded in 1948, is committed to a sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable future in farming. Taking the challenges of the farmer and the needs of the cow as our starting point, we develop high-quality robots and data systems that improve animal welfare, flexibility, and productivity on dairy farms. Our goal is to support sustainable food production.

For over 30 years, we have been a global leader in the sales and service of automated systems for successive generations of dairy farmers. Every day, we inspire our colleagues to offer customers innovative solutions and to be a reliable partner for long-term advice and support. With our state-of-the-art Lely Campus in Maassluis and a global network of dedicated Lely Centers for customized sales and service, Lely operates in more than fifty countries.