Embodied AI Real2Sim Engineer

Maxinsights•Santa Clara, CA

About The Position

Build a digital pipeline that transfers real-world robots, objects, and scenes into simulation. Reconstruct and calibrate visual and physical properties, then deliver SimReady interactive assets that reduce the sim-to-real gap and support algorithm training, simulation evaluation, and policy transfer to real hardware. The role owns the end-to-end Real2Sim workflow using simulation and graphics platforms such as Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, Genesis, and Blender. Work includes 3D and appearance reconstruction, dynamic identification, calibration of contact, friction, and inertia parameters, and alignment of simulated and real-world dynamic and perceptual behavior. It also involves processing multimodal captured data, developing automation for calibration and asset inspection, and collaborating across perception, robot learning, simulation, and hardware teams to improve sim-real alignment.

Requirements

Proficiency in at least one simulation or graphics tool such as Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, Genesis, or Blender, with solid understanding of computer graphics and rigid-body dynamics.
Familiarity with physics simulation engines such as PhysX and Newton.
Hands-on experience with Real2Sim pipelines and SimReady asset standards, including independently building, configuring, and validating robot or object assets and tuning physical properties.
Knowledge of 3D reconstruction, camera imaging, point cloud processing, and camera calibration.
Fundamental understanding of system identification, parameter calibration, and contact and friction models for physical simulation; familiarity with PBR rendering and material creation.
Ability to decompose requirements, implement technical solutions, run comparative experiments, and identify root causes of sim-real mismatches in visual reconstruction or physical simulation.
Ability to design dynamic system identification experiments, analyze measured hardware data, and quantify sim-real errors introduced by nonlinear dynamics.

Nice To Haves

Track record delivering Real2Sim projects, especially for robotic arms, dexterous hands, or humanoid robots.
Deep familiarity with USD, URDF, or MJCF and experience building asset libraries and automated asset validation pipelines.
Python or C++ skills for calibration scripts, engine extensions, and data-processing tools.
Experience with 3DGS, NeRF, PBR reconstruction, or photogrammetry.
Background in system identification, excitation trajectory design, dynamic parameter estimation, and contact model tuning.
Understanding of Sim2Real, reinforcement learning, and embodied AI closed-loop systems.
Experience with motion capture, multi-sensor calibration, and real robot hardware experiments.
Familiarity with nonlinear friction models such as LuGre and Stribeck, and experience modeling and tuning joint hysteresis and backlash.

Responsibilities

Own the end-to-end Real2Sim workflow, including 3D and appearance reconstruction, dynamic identification, and calibration of contact, friction, and inertia parameters.
Create, validate, and iterate SimReady assets following USD, URDF, and MJCF standards; configure joints, collision shapes, mass and inertia, joint limits, semantic labels, and affordance properties.
Process real-world captured data, including camera calibration, point cloud and mesh processing, texture and PBR material calibration; use 3DGS, NeRF, and related methods to digitize scenes and export simulation-compatible assets.
Develop automated tools for calibration, data processing, and asset quality inspection; document asset specifications, calibration workflows, and evaluation metrics.
Collaborate with perception, robot learning, simulation engine, and hardware teams to design quantitative sim-real benchmark experiments, identify simulation bias, and improve calibration protocols and asset standards.
Design excitation trajectories for robot system identification, collect time-series dynamic data from physical robots, and calibrate and reproduce non-ideal dynamic behavior such as nonlinear joint friction and transmission backlash.