Mechatronics Integration Engineer

High Tech Campus Eindhoven; Eindhoven; Hybrid; EUR 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

KRUSH Labs in Eindhoven is seeking a Mechatronics Integration Engineer to join the Autonomy Team. You will design, prototype, and integrate morphing airframes, articulated propulsion, and reconfigurable sensor heads for next‑generation autonomous platforms operating in GPS-denied environments.

Collaborate with controls, perception, and firmware engineers to translate dynamics into flight‑ready hardware, develop online system identification, and help validate hardware in real flight tests.

Qualifications

• MSc or PhD in a relevant field.
• 3+ years hands-on experience designing flight-relevant mechanical systems.
• Experience on UAV/robotic platforms.
• Strong grasp of multibody dynamics and 6-DoF kinematics.
• Experience with online system identification techniques and integration into flight control loops.
• Working knowledge of PX4 or ArduPilot internals and MAVLink.
• Proficiency with CAD tools and FEA.
• Familiarity with actuator selection and power electronics.
• Experience integrating IMUs, encoders and sensors.

Responsibilities

• Analyze project requirements related to robotic mechanisms, gimbal/sensor mounts, and their interaction with the autonomy and control stack.
• Design, prototype, and iterate on mechanical assemblies such as morphing airframes and multi-axis gimbals from concept to flight-ready hardware.
• Develop full kinematic and dynamic models of reconfigurable platforms.
• Estimate and validate aerodynamic coefficients across morphing configurations.
• Implement online system identification pipelines during flight and feed into control/estimation.
• Co-design mechanism behavior with flight-control engineers to ensure stability across configurations.
• Produce CAD assemblies, tolerance stacks, and manufacturing drawings; drive prototyping through 3D printing and CNC.
• Specify and integrate servos, BLDC actuators, encoders, IMUs, and sensors; interface with embedded firmware and ROS2.
• Build hardware-in-the-loop setups to characterize mechanisms before operation.
• Document mechanical interface contracts and maintenance procedures.
• Contribute to development and validation of advanced R&D drone platforms.

Skills

Multibody dynamics

Kinematics

PX4/ArduPilot

CAD tools

FEA

C++/Python

Linux/ROS2

System identification

UAV/robotic platforms

Jira/Confluence

Actuators (servos/BLDC)

Education

MSc or PhD in Mechatronics, Aerospace, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering or equivalent

Tools

SolidWorks

Fusion 360

Onshape

Job description

We are seeking a Mechatronics Integration Engineer to join the Autonomy Team at KRUSH Labs in Eindhoven. This role will play a key part in designing, prototyping, and integrating the adaptive mechanisms — morphing airframes, articulated propulsion, and reconfigurable gimbal-mounted sensor heads — that enable KRUSH Labs’ next-generation autonomous platforms to operate in GPS-denied and perceptually challenging environments. The Mechatronics Integration Engineer will work closely with controls, perception, and firmware engineers to translate multibody dynamics, aerodynamic behavior, and mass-distribution insights into flight-ready hardware, and to support online system identification across changing platform configurations.

We are seeking a Mechatronics Integration Engineer to join the Autonomy Team at KRUSH Labs in Eindhoven. This role will play a key part in designing, prototyping, and integrating the adaptive mechanisms — morphing airframes, articulated propulsion, and reconfigurable gimbal-mounted sensor heads — that enable KRUSH Labs’ next-generation autonomous platforms to operate in GPS-denied and perceptually challenging environments.

The Mechatronics Integration Engineer will work closely with controls, perception, and firmware engineers to translate multibody dynamics, aerodynamic behavior, and mass-distribution insights into flight-ready hardware, and to support online system identification across changing platform configurations.

This role combines hands-on mechanical design with cross-domain R&D, making it ideal for a mechatronics engineer who enjoys building novel hardware from first principles, working at the intersection of mechanics, aerodynamics, and control, and seeing their designs operate in the real world.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities

Analyze project requirements related to robotic mechanisms, gimbal/sensor mounts, and their interaction with the autonomy and control stack;

Design, prototype, and iterate on novel mechanical assemblies — including morphing airframes, variable-baseline stereo rigs, and multi-axis gimbal cameras — from concept through flight-ready hardware.

Develop full kinematic and multibody dynamic models of reconfigurable platforms, including time-varying inertia tensors, CG migration, and joint constraints.

Estimate, simulate, and support validate aerodynamic coefficients across morphing configurations (CFD, wind-tunnel, and flight-log identification)

Implement online system identification pipelines that update mass, inertia, aerodynamic, and actuator parameters during flight and feed them into the control allocator and estimator.

Co-design mechanism behavior with flight-control engineers to ensure stable operation across the full configuration envelope and during transitions.

Produce CAD assemblies, tolerance stacks, and manufacturing drawings; drive prototyping through 3D printing, CNC machining, and composite layup.

Specify and integrate servos, BLDC actuators, encoders, IMUs, and load sensors; close the loop with embedded firmware and ROS2 nodes.

Build hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and bench rigs to characterize mechanisms before operation.

Document mechanical interface contracts, failure modes, and maintenance procedures.

Contribute to the development and validation of advanced R&D drone platforms.

Technical Qualifications Required

MSc or PhD in Mechatronics, Aerospace, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent

3+ years of hands-on experience designing flight-relevant mechanical systems, with at least 1 year on UAV or robotic platforms

Strong grasp of multibody dynamics and 6-DoF rigid-body kinematics; comfortable deriving and implementing equations of motion for articulated and morphing systems

Experience with online system identification techniques (grey-box modeling, RLS, EKF/UKF parameter estimation) and their integration into flight control loops

Working knowledge of PX4 or ArduPilot internals, uORB / MAVLink messaging, and control allocation for non-standard airframes

Proficiency with CAD tools (SolidWorks, Fusion 360, or Onshape) and FEA for structural and modal analysis

Familiarity with actuator selection and characterization (servos, BLDC, brushed DC, stepper) and the associated power electronics

Experience integrating IMUs, encoders, and force/torque sensors, including bias, scale, and misalignment calibration

Comfortable in a Linux/ROS2 environment; able to read and write C++ and Python for sensor interfacing and data analysis

Practical prototyping skills: 3D printing (FDM/SLA), CNC, composites, hand-assembly to flight-grade tolerances

Skills & Abilities Required

Strong analytical skills and a bias toward first-principles reasoning before simulation or build

Ability to translate between mechanical, aerodynamic, and control domains and communicate trade-offs to each

Effective verbal and written communication for cross-functional collaboration with controls, perception, and firmware engineers

Ability to work independently and within a team using tools like Jira and Confluence

Patience and clarity in debugging mechanical, electrical, and software interactions on real hardware

Why Join KRUSH Labs?

Working alongside top talent brings your expertise to a new height. Our Engineers are passionate researchers and PhD scientists who are driven to bring real impact.

We build solutions for specific needs. We work to address existing hardware specific challenges of a client to ensure they receive practical, high-performance solutions.