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Senior / Staff Robotics Engineer, Motion Planning

RoboForce· Robotics Software
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Hybrid (Milpitas, CA)$160k - $265k + bonusfull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Senior / Staff Robotics Engineer responsible for owning the local mobility and safety stack for RoboForce's humanoid platform, translating AI-generated traversability and semantic costmaps into deterministic, dynamically feasible motion with CoM-aware navigation and deterministic safety architectures, and integrating with Whole-Body Control (WBC).

Responsibilities

  • Dynamic Motion Planning: Architect and implement advanced local planners (e.g., optimization-based approaches like MPC, MPPI, or custom contouring control) that translate AI-generated routes into trajectories that a heavy, non-holonomic base can physically execute on uneven terrain.
  • AI Integration & Costmap Consumption: Build the high-performance C++ pipelines that ingest the AI team's neural network outputs (semantic maps, learned costmaps) in real-time and convert them into deterministic mathematical constraints for the planner.
  • Center of Mass (CoM) Aware Navigation: Ensure local planners dynamically adjust to real-time changes in the robot's Center of Mass caused by the lifting column and dual-arm payloads. Your trajectories must guarantee stability and prevent tipping on slopes or rough ground.
  • Deterministic Safety Architectures: Build the deterministic C++ safety layer and fallback behaviors that override AI inputs if a commanded path violates physical safety constraints or if off-the-shelf SLAM tracking drops.
  • WBC Integration: Architect the local planning interfaces to seamlessly pass base trajectories, velocity limits, and dynamic constraints to our upcoming Whole-Body Control (WBC) architecture, bridging base mobility and upper-body manipulation.

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field, OR an M.S. degree with 4+ years of relevant industry experience.
  • Motion Planning Expertise: Deep hands-on experience developing and tuning advanced local planners and trajectory optimization algorithms for mobile robots in complex, unstructured environments.
  • Rigid Body Dynamics: Strong understanding of kinematics, vehicle dynamics, and center-of-mass constraints for top-heavy mobile robots operating on uneven outdoor terrain.
  • C++ Performance Engineering: Expertise in modern C++ (C++17/20), with strict attention to real-time performance, memory management, and low-latency execution; ability to bridge high-latency AI outputs with hard real-time control loops.
  • Field Deployment: Proven track record of building and deploying autonomous navigation stacks on real, physical robotic platforms in the wild.
  • In-office Requirement: Requires 5 days/week in-office collaboration with the teams.

Skills

Required:Dynamic Motion PlanningC++ (C++17/20)Costmap/AI IntegrationCenter of Mass (CoM) aware navigationDeterministic Safety Architecture

Benefits

  • Competitive stock options/equity programs
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) plan
  • Visa sponsorship and green card support for qualified candidates
  • Lunches and dinners, a fully stocked kitchen, and regular team-building events
Last updated Aug 13, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About RoboForce

Robotics for Humanity

RoboForce is building the world’s most advanced Robo-Labor system.

AI RoboticsIndustrial automationRobo-LaborRobotics for Humanityautomationoutsourcingphysical-ai-funding-landscaperobotics
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