Robotics Hardware Engineer

The University of Texas at Austin•Austin, UT

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Center for Human and Robot Co-Adaptation (HRC) is a multi-university initiative focused on studying how humans and robots adapt to each other over time. This Center unites researchers from various disciplines including robotics, AI, cognitive science, social science, data, and ethics to develop a new science of human-robot co-adaptation. This science will be tested and refined through the Human Environment with Robots (HERO) Facility Network, which involves long-term deployments of assistive robots in real-world settings such as dorms, cafes, museums, homes, hospitals, and assisted-living facilities. The Center is funded by a significant award from the National Science Foundation. The Robotics Hardware Engineer will be instrumental in developing, integrating, maintaining, and deploying the robots for these HERO deployments and foundational research, contributing to the Center's strategic goals. This role requires integrating various components like sensors and compute systems with existing robotics platforms to support multi-site deployments and establishing standardized procedures for safe, reliable, and continuous robot operation. The ideal candidate is a hands-on engineer with strong hardware and software skills, capable of assessing requirements, planning integrations, and troubleshooting issues across mechanical, electrical, sensing, communication, driver, middleware, and application layers. This engineer will own the Center's robotic platforms, document their operation and maintenance, support replication at different sites, and develop safeguards to minimize failures. Collaboration with the Robotics Software Engineer is crucial for coordinating platform integration, deployment readiness, troubleshooting, and upgrades.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, Aerospace Engineering, or a related technical field.
Two or more years of relevant professional, research, or field engineering experience involving robotic, autonomous, electromechanical, or similarly complex systems.
Programming proficiency in Python and C++ or comparable languages used in robotics systems.
Experience with ROS 2.
Hands-on experience integrating sensors, embedded computers, electrical components, communications hardware, and mechanical assemblies.
Strong critical-thinking, debugging, and root-cause-analysis skills.
Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Nice To Haves

Experience deploying mobile manipulation robots or autonomous systems in real-world field environments.
Experience with RGB-D camera systems such as Intel RealSense, Stereolabs ZED, Orbbec, or comparable platforms.
Proficiency with Linux-based systems and the ability to diagnose operating-system, process, driver, networking, permissions, dependency, and hardware-interface problems.
Experience with NVIDIA Jetson embedded computing platforms, including Jetson AGX Orin, Jetson Thor, or comparable GPU-based robotic compute systems.
Experience building, modifying, or troubleshooting Linux device drivers or integrating vendor SDKs and APIs.
Experience with Linux system administration, shell scripting, systemd services, Docker or other containers, networking tools, and software build systems.
Experience debugging software using logs, debuggers, profilers, network analysis tools, hardware diagnostics, and other engineering instrumentation.
Experience designing or modifying robotic power-distribution and electrical architectures.
Experience with CAD/CAM systems such as SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Onshape, Inventor, or similar tools.
Experience with machining, CNC fabrication, 3D printing, sheet-metal fabrication, laser cutting, or other prototyping methods.
Experience managing hardware and software configurations, spare parts, maintenance schedules, and deployment readiness for a fleet of robotic systems.

Responsibilities

Own the hardware and software integration, operational readiness, maintenance, and field deployment of mobile robotic platforms.
Develop and maintain standardized platform configurations that can be replicated across HERO sites.
Translate research and deployment needs into robot hardware, sensing, computing, communication, and integration requirements.
Evaluate new robot platforms, sensors, compute systems, and other technologies and recommend upgrades as Center needs and the state of the art evolve.
Coordinate with Center researchers and the Center Software Engineer to ensure platforms support the scientific goals of the Center.
Maintain Center robots in a safe, reliable, maintainable, and continuously deployable state.
Establish repeatable procedures for setup, calibration, configuration, inspection, transportation, deployment, recovery, maintenance, and repair.
Develop health checks, monitoring, startup validation, fault detection, and other safeguards to identify failures before deployment and prevent recurring problems.
Support and, when appropriate, lead technical field operations for HERO studies and demonstrations.
Diagnose deployment failures and coordinate recovery or repair with local site personnel.
Document reference platform configurations and support their replication and validation across HERO sites, including integration diagrams, BOMs, installation guides, and reference manuals.
Work with local facility personnel and researchers to troubleshoot site-specific hardware and deployment issues.
Maintain configuration control across platforms, including hardware revisions, firmware, software compatibility, calibration, and spare-part requirements.
Coordinate platform changes and upgrades across sites to minimize fragmentation and maintain interoperability.
Work closely with the Center Software Engineer and research teams on problems that cross hardware/software boundaries.