Breaking into robotics?

Hi everyone! I currently do frontend work at a robotics startup, and recently I've become more interested in switching into in robotics proper. In particular, I'd love to work on projects that involve some algorithms / math, like motion planning or navigation. What steps can I take to pivot into robotics if I currently don't have any experience in the field?

More context:

• I am a relatively recent grad, and have worked in the SWE industry for about a year. My current work involves refactoring our frontend / backend and writing APIs.
• I'm unlikely to go back to school because I already have a Master's degree in CS. (Actually, I once tried to do a PhD... not sure I want to repeat that in the near future haha)
• Back in college, I took a computer vision class, and my linear algebra / algorithms are pretty sharp, but I have never physically built a robot. I've written maybe one simple ROS node in C++ and run a Gazebo simulation for work, but that's about it.
• I've tried reaching out to university alums on LinkedIn for informational interviews, but none have responded to me so far.
• I could ask my manager about trying a different role at my current company, but this makes me nervous bc I'm not sure if people will be happy about me leaving the applications team. Also, I haven't finished my current refactoring project, so I might not be able to do that for a month or two.
• Do personal projects help, and if so, how does that work? I'm not sure how feasible it is for me to just build robots all by myself...