Senior Robotics Controls Engineer

<p><strong>Targeted start date: Immediately. <strong><strong>Relocation provided.</strong></strong></strong></p> <p><strong><strong><strong><br/></strong></strong></strong></p> <p>The Senior Robotics Controls Engineer role involves developing the real-time software stack that permits our state-of-the-art hardware to efficiently, elegantly and deterministically manipulate and locomote through its environment. This is a very hands-on role on a team which is responsible for everything from low-level motor control to whole-body dynamic control and estimation for loco-manipulation. Our teams goal essentially is to abstract away the complexity of a high DoF series of sensors, actuators, transmissions and links such that our humanoid can be commanded via simple, high-level API’s consumed by our teleoperation and AI engines.<br/></p> <p>1X's mission is to create an abundant supply of physical labor through safe, intelligent androids that work alongside humans. Since 2014, we’ve designed our products with large-scale manufacturing in mind, so we can produce androids at a high enough volume to meet the world’s labor demand. <br/></p> <p dir="ltr">Our wheeled Android EVE, is engineered to work with you, from guarding to logistics, and our bipedal model, NEO, is designed to become a household android with broad deployment in various applications. Our products will understand both natural language and physical space, so they can complete useful tasks in any environment.</p> <p dir="ltr">We’ve established our dual HQ in San Francisco and Norway. Our positions require in-person presence to ensure effective execution and seamless collaboration in our hardware-focused environment. We value passion for our work and encourage candidates who share our dedication to join our team.<strong><br/></strong></p> <h3><strong>Why this job is exciting</strong></h3><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">The controls team is the first user of the hardware so you will play a key role in hardware design and sensor evaluation.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">There are 30+ humanoids operating 24/7 in-house which you can deploy and test your controls software on.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">In time, your software will run on 1000's of humanoids performing tasks in diverse environments, globally.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">You'll be on a team with a large set of responsibilities, requiring interaction with hardware, firmware, AI, platforms and production teams, all working towards building the world’s safest and most capable humanoid robot.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">You’ll be working with a 50+ DoF biped, with hands, all driven by motors we design and manufacture in-house. If this doesn’t excite you then 🤷<strong><strong><br/></strong></strong></p></li></ul><strong><strong>Controls Team Responsibilities</strong></strong><ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Humanoid controls algorithm development for balancing, locomotion and manipulation. </p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Designing fast and efficient state estimation algorithms.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">SysID and calibration of actuators, transmissions and full body kinematics.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Hardware integration and sensor evaluation.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Tooling for hardware bring-up and debugging.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Software for robot health monitoring, visualization and logging.</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Building and maintaining API's used by other parts of the software stack to command our robots.</p></li></ul> <h3>Requirements</h3> <p><strong><strong>Must-Haves</strong></strong></p> <ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Graduate degree in Robotics, Mechanical/Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or similar</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">3+ years practical experience deploying and debugging controls + estimation adjacent software on high DoF robots</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Solid understanding of rigid body dynamics, linear algebra and numerical optimization</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Familiarity with optimization-based whole body control, EKF-based state estimators or model predictive control for legged systems</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Proficiency working with large C++ code bases in a Linux development environment</p></li><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Familiarity with modern software development practices, source control, and testing methodologies</p></li></ul> <strong>Qualities we're looking for</strong> <ul><li>Excellent intuition for how controls software impacts the behavior of the robot</li><li>You enjoy being hands-on with the hardware as much as doing software R&amp;D work.</li><li>Extreme care for how your software impacts the rest of product, eg. tele-operation, production, deployment and servicing in the field</li><li>Perseverance and attention to detail</li></ul> <p><strong>Nice-To-Haves</strong></p> <ul><li dir="ltr"><p dir="ltr">Experience with Java, Unity/C#, Python