Staff Robot Controls Integration Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 17, 2026. First seen by Alion on Jul 9, 2026. Rhoda AI scores A on the Alion truth index.
At Rhoda AI, we’re building the next generation of generalist intelligent robots. We own the full robotics stack from high-performance hardware and robot systems to the infrastructure and state-of-the-art foundation world models that control our robots. Our robots are designed to be generalists capable of operating in complex, real-world environments and handling long-tail edge cases, made possible by our cutting edge research and end-to-end system design. We've raised over $450M and are investing aggressively in model research, infrastructure, hardware development, and manufacturing scale-up to make generalist robotics a reality.
About the Role
We're looking for a Staff Robot Controls Integration Engineer to own the bridge between our control algorithms and real-world hardware - the critical point where physics meets firmware. You'll integrate motor control stacks, real-time communication protocols, and sensing systems into a cohesive, predictable platform that performs reliably in demanding field conditions. This role sits at the intersection of embedded firmware, control theory, and hardware bringup: you'll validate control behavior across the full stack, diagnose timing and performance issues, and drive fixes that make our robots actually work.
What You'll Do
Control algorithm integration: Take control strategies from MATLAB/Simulink into real-time firmware on microcontrollers and real-time Linux systems. Validate that implemented behavior matches design intent through dynamic testing and closed-loop validation.
Real-time protocol bringup: Integrate and commission communication buses (CAN, EtherCAT) connecting motor controllers, microcontrollers, and compute hardware. Conduct encoder linearization, sensor calibration, and protocol timing verification to achieve reliable sub-millisecond latency.
Motor and actuator characterization: Work with firmware teams to validate motor performance - cogging torque compensation, field-oriented control tuning, friction modeling. Conduct dynamic testing (Bode analysis, step response) to verify control bandwidth and stability margins.
Hardware-in-the-loop system design: Build and operate test benches that simulate robot dynamics, inject faults, and validate closed-loop behavior before deployment. Create repeatable, automated tests that catch control instability and latency issues early.
Real-time performance profiling: Measure and optimize latency paths across the stack - firmware interrupt handlers, communication pipeline, control loops. Identify and close timing violations that degrade control quality.
Troubleshooting and root-cause analysis: When robots exhibit unexpected behavior in the field, methodically isolate the cause - is it the control law, firmware implementation, communication delay, or hardware? Turn findings into durable fixes working alongside Firmware and Hardware teams.
What We're Looking For
Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Mechanical, or closely related engineering discipline.
8+ Years of experience working on at least one of the following areas:
Hands-on motor controls: You've implemented or tuned PID loops, field-oriented control, torque control, or trajectory tracking on real hardware. Comfortable reasoning about poles, stability, and bandwidth.
Real-time systems and firmware: You understand interrupt latency, real-time constraints, and the gap between algorithm and implementation. Experience with real-time Linux, microcontroller programming, or RTOS.
Communication protocols: Solid experience with CAN, CAN FD, or EtherCAT - protocol analysis, debugging, timing verification. Familiar with CANoe, Vector tooling, or oscilloscope-based signal capture.
Sensor integration and validation: You've brought up encoders, IMUs, force/torque sensors. Understand aliasing, noise filtering, calibration, and how sensor delay cascades into control performance.
HiL and SIL: You design tests that matter - fault-injection tests that probe stability margins, saturation behavior, and graceful degradation. Experience with Simulink, FPGA platforms, or equivalent.
Control theory: You understand dynamics, Laplace transforms, Bode plots, poles and zeros. Can read a control diagram and reason about closed-loop behavior and system stability.
Nice to Have
Experience with EtherCAT, SOEM, Beckhoff hardware, or TwinCAT real-time platforms.
Proficiency in MATLAB/Simulink for modeling, parameter identification, and control-system analysis.
Python or C++ for test automation, firmware tooling, and data post-processing.
Experience with motor characterization: cogging torque analysis, friction modeling, thermal dynamics.
Familiarity with functional safety standards and how control performance ties into safety requirements.
Prior experience supporting fielded systems, turning customer-reported instabilities into durable firmware fixes.