You've seen the headlines, you've watched the videos. Now, join the groundbreaking MegaBots team that's making science fiction into a sport.
We're the most badass robotics and entertainment mash-up around, full stop. The company car is a two-seater, 15-foot tall, 12,000 lb mech outfitted with giant pneumatic cannons. We’ve been featured on the Discovery Channel, VICE, CNN, BBC, Business Insider, Rolling Stone, you name it. We've built America's first full-scale mech, we threw down an international giant robot duel challenge, and on top of kicking ass and taking names, we're focusing on developing the strategic partnerships and robotic technology that will turn this insanity into a world-wide sports franchise.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to bring the giant combat robots and mechs from science fiction to life in the most epic way imaginable, in order to kick off the world's next (and greatest) sports league. You will be responsible for making the fantasies of millions of kids (both young and old!) a reality.
Now Hiring: Senior Engineers
We take our engineering very seriously at MegaBots. As a senior engineer, you will be responsible for designing and creating internally-piloted, 15+ feet tall, 6+ ton mechs and robots meant to battle other robots in front of a live audience. Your job will be to make machines that are powerful, agile, and robust enough to live up to the dreams of generations of people around the world, but are at the same time fundamentally safe enough to set the standard for a new sports league for years to come. You will have to work extremely fast and well, make tough calls under pressure, balance design, budget, and time continuously, work on a team seamlessly, be willing to put down your computer and pick up a wrench or a soldering iron if need be, and have a blast while doing so. You can expect once-in-a-lifetime adventures and spontaneous international travel as par for the course. While working with a team of world-class engineers, expect long hours, extreme project responsibility and independence, and a dynamic and unique work environment not found anywhere else.
If you're up to the challenge, read on for our required and desired skills, and submit an application!
Senior Controls Engineer
Oakland, CA Engineering Full-time
Job Responsibilities
- Create and bring-up control systems for 15+ foot tall, 6+ ton humanoid combat mechs designed to fight similarly-sized mechs while keeping pilots and audiences safe
- Work quickly and effectively on a small, agile multi-disciplinary robotics team with 4-9 other engineers and various subcontractors
- Explain your work and process on-camera during a fast-paced design and build
- Independently and collaboratively take control systems from concept, to firmware, to actuator control, to top-level control on extremely short timescales (6-9 months)
- Work with existing complex humanoid control systems and adapt them to our unique hydraulic hardware
- Develop physical simulations of robot motions, use them to develop movements and gaits, and inform other engineers of resulting system requirements
- Create and execute a series of test plans for actuator validation and modeling, system bring-up, and live piloting
- Work with other engineers to develop human-machine interfaces capable of accurately controlling multi-jointed robot motion
Required Experience
- Excellent teamwork under pressure
- Willingness to be on-camera throughout the design and build process
- Demonstrated ability to lead a small engineering team
- 5 years minimum controls engineering experience, or 2 years DARPA Robotics Challenge experience in a humanoid controls capacity
- Forward kinematics, inverse kinematics, position and force control in multi-jointed systems
- Humanoid or inverted pendulum balance control systems
- Model predictive control , state estimation, and trajectory planning
- State visualization (3D, real-time)
- Data logging system design, implementation and use
- Control system bring-up on untested platforms and test plan development
- Experience with ROS, C, Java and Python
Desired Experience
- Camera operation, video editing, photo editing, graphic design, web design, model making or other graphic design skills
- Hydraulic system control design
- 3D SLAM
- Human-machine interfaces
- Machine vision
- Mechanical fabrication and assembly skills (machining, welding, and mechanical assembly experience in particular)
- Electrical fabrication skills (soldering and wiring harness experience in particular)
- Rigging and commercial transportation experience (forklift/crane/boom lift certification and a CDL in particular)
NOTE: We're serious about requiring 5 years of engineering experience, though we will make an exception if you were specifically involved in the DARPA Robotics Challenge for two years in a humanoid controls capacity. Hands-on Masters and Ph.D. programs count towards this requirement, but undergraduate degrees and internships do not. Sorry, but we're not hiring entry level engineers for this position.
Senior Electrical Engineer
Oakland, CA Engineering Full-time
Job Responsibilities
- Create and bring-up robust electrical systems for 15+ foot tall, 6+ ton humanoid combat mechs designed to fight similarly-sized mechs while keeping pilots and audiences safe
- Work quickly and effectively on a small, agile multi-disciplinary robotics team with 4-9 other engineers and various subcontractors
- Explain your work and process on-camera during a fast-paced design and build
- Independently and collaboratively take electrical systems from concept, to system diagrams, to harness designs and board layouts, to robust execution on extremely short timescales (3-6 months)
- Write firmware for, execute and debug robot-wide communications systems across CANOpen, EtherCAT, and other communications protocols
- Design, layout, source, order and test custom circuit boards for reading sensors, communicating across a variety of standards, and controlling a variety of components
- Design, layout, source and fabricate robust wiring harnesses with industry standard ruggedized connectors
Required Experience
- Excellent teamwork under pressure
- Willingness to be on-camera throughout the design and build process
- Demonstrated ability to lead a small engineering and fabrication team
- 5 years minimum electrical engineering experience
- Significant electronic circuit capture, and PCB layout experience with both analog and digital circuits.
- Experience with a variety of embedded system communication busses (UART, SPI, I2C)
- Significant wire harness design and fabrication
- Harsh environment electronic system design
- CANOpen and EtherCAT communications experience
- Significant soldering experience (down to 0402)
Desired Experience
- Camera operation, video editing, photo editing, graphic design, web design, model making or other graphic design skills
- Significant electrical fabrication skills (soldering and wiring harness experience in particular)
- Mechanical fabrication and assembly skills (machining, welding, and mechanical assembly experience in particular)
- Rigging and commercial transportation experience (forklift/crane/boom lift certification and a CDL in particular)
- High-power battery design and fabrication
- Ingress protection rating (IP65, IP67, etc.) design experience
- High-flexibility wire harnesses and strain relief design in mobile, and/or industrial automation applications.
- High-power (48V+, 100A+) electronics design
NOTE: We're serious about requiring 5 years of engineering experience. Hands-on Masters and Ph.D. programs count towards this requirement, but undergraduate degrees and internships do not. Sorry, but we're not hiring entry level engineers for this position.
Senior Mechanical Engineer
Oakland, CA Engineering Full-time
Job Responsibilities
- Mechanically design 15+ foot tall, 6+ ton humanoid combat mechs designed to fight similarly-sized mechs while keeping pilots and audiences safe
- Work quickly and effectively on a small, agile multi-disciplinary robotics team with 4-9 other engineers and various subcontractors
- Explain your work and process on-camera during a fast-paced design and build
- Independently and collaboratively take designs from concept, to CAD, to FEA, to fabrication and testing on extremely short timescales (3-6 months)
- Design entire electromechanical subsystems (such as compressed air weapon systems) independently
- Design high-force, high-power, position and force-controlled linear and rotary hydraulic degrees of freedom
- Design roll cages, canopies and pilot seats that can survive 10 foot falls, melee attacks from similarly-sized combat robots, and impacts from high speed projectiles
- Design high-strength, lightweight, bolted, welded, cast or laid-up structures out of a variety of advanced materials as situations call for them
- Continuously balance design time, fabrication time, part cost, design elegance, visual aesthetic, and effectiveness, and be willing to optimize your designs for any of those priorities as needed by the project
- Send out your designs to fabricators, manage a small team of in-house fabricators, and fabricate your own designs if push comes to shove
Required Experience
- Excellent teamwork under pressure
- Willingness to be on-camera throughout the design and build process
- Demonstrated ability to lead a small engineering and fabrication team
- 5 years minimum mechanical engineering experience
- Significant 3D modeling experience in a team environment
- Design of multi-jointed mechanical systems
- Design of position-controlled robotic systems
- Design of high-strength, low-weight weldments and bolted assemblies
- Design and layout of wiring and/or hose harnesses
- Finite element analysis of high performance parts, assemblies, and weldments
- Demonstrated ability to take complex electromechanical systems from concept to shipped product in 3-6 months
Desired Experience
- Camera operation, video editing, photo editing, graphic design, web design, model making or other graphic design skills
- Humanoid robot design
- Hydraulic system design and assembly
- Design of force-controlled robotic systems
- Roll cage design
- Ergonomics and human factors design
- Mechanical design for vibration and shock loads
- High-power (50+ HP) gas engine, diesel engine, and electric motor design, diagnostic, and repair experience
- Significant mechanical fabrication and assembly skills (machining, welding, mechanical assembly and hydraulic assembly)
- Electrical fabrication skills (soldering and wiring harness experience in particular)
- Rigging and commercial transportation experience (forklift/crane/boom lift certification and a CDL in particular)
- Design of spud guns, compressed air cannons, pyrotechnics, model rocketry and other 'Backyard Ballistics'-style projects
NOTE: We're serious about requiring 5 years of engineering experience. Hands-on Masters and Ph.D. programs count towards this requirement, but undergraduate degrees and internships do not. Sorry, but we're not hiring entry level engineers for this position.