Robotics Controls Engineer (Humanoid Arms)

Nirvana Robotics builds and deploys humanoid robots that work on real factory floors. The arms are where a huge amount of the hard work lives, and the team is looking for a low-level controls engineer who is happy living close to the metal.

What you'll do

• Design, implement and tune low-level controllers for multi-DOF robotic arms: position, velocity, torque and impedance/admittance control.
• Build real-time control loops and interfaces to motor drivers and actuators (EtherCAT, CAN, current/torque control).
• Develop motion planning for manipulation: collision-free planning, trajectory optimization and retiming.
• Work on kinematics, Jacobians, rigid-body dynamics, system identification and calibration.
• Get controllers and planners working reliably on physical hardware, closing the gap between simulation and the real robot.

What we're looking for

• BS, MS or PhD in Robotics, EE, ME, CS, Aerospace or a related field.
• 4+ years shipping robotics controls on real hardware, or equivalent research experience (MS + 2 years, or a relevant PhD).
• Hands-on controls work on robotic arms, manipulators, cobots or humanoids.
• Strong classical control (PID, LQR, state-space); impedance/admittance or whole-body control is a plus, MPC too.
• Motion planning frameworks such as MoveIt, cuRobo, OMPL or TrajOpt.
• C++ and Python, comfortable with ROS or ROS 2.

Good to know

• Full-time, onsite in New York City. Relocation within the US is an option.
• US work authorization required; visa sponsorship is not available.
• Hiring through Niuro, Nirvana's recruiting partner.