Electrical Engineer Intern

Foundation Robotics Labs Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 20,000 - 33,000; Full time

Job summary

Foundation Robotics Labs Inc. seeks highly technical interns to help build dexterous hands for humanoid robotics. You will work on custom electronics, motor drivers, and sensor arrays, contributing from schematic design to board bring-up.

We value talent and determination over past robotics experience; this startup offers rapid ownership of subsystems and a path to full-time roles as we define what humanoid hands can do.

Qualifications

• Pursuing BS or MS in Electrical/Computer Engineering with strong circuit coursework.
• Strong grasp of analog circuit fundamentals and power electronics basics.
• Experience with KiCad, Altium, or Eagle for schematic capture and PCB layout.
• Ability to read datasheets and assess motor driver ICs and SPI interfaces.
• Hands-on PCB design and assembly experience.
• Familiarity with rigid-flex or flex PCB design is a plus.
• Strong problem-solving and self-motivation in a startup environment.

Responsibilities

• Own PCB design, bring-up procedures, and hardware validation for robotic hand.
• Design custom electronics for dexterous hands and sensor arrays.
• Collaborate with mechanical and software teams in a fast-paced startup.
• Draft schematics and layout documentation.

Skills

Electrical engineering

Analog circuits

Digital systems

PCB layout

Schematic capture

Education

BS or MS in Electrical Engineering

Tools

KiCad

Altium Designer

Eagle

Job description

Our mission is to create advanced robots that can operate in complex environments, reducing human risk in conflict zones and enhancing efficiency in labor-intensive industries.

We are on the lookout for extraordinary engineers and scientists to join our team.

Your previous experience in robotics isn't a prerequisite — it's your talent and determination that truly count.

We expect that many of our team members will bring diverse perspectives from various industries and fields. We are looking for individuals with a proven record of exceptional ability and a history of creating things that work.

Our Culture

We like to be frank and honest about who we are, so that people can decide for themselves if this is a culture they resonate with. Please read more about our culture here https://foundation.bot/culture.

About This Role

Why You Should Join

• You are highly technical - regardless of the role you are in. We are building technology; you need to understand technology well.
• You care about aesthetics and design inside out. If it's not the best product ever, it bothers you, and you need to “fix” it.
• You don't need someone to motivate you; you get things done.

Why are We Hiring for this Role:

• Building dexterous hands and fingers for a humanoid requires custom electronics at every level — from miniaturized motor drivers to flexible sensor arrays wrapped around fingertips — and we need dedicated EE bandwidth to design, build, and iterate on that hardware
• Off-the-shelf electronics are not designed for the spatial constraints, flex requirements, and channel density of a robotic hand with 20+ degrees of freedom — most of what we build is custom, and we need people who can design from a blank schematic
• Our mechanical systems are advancing faster than our electronics stack — this intern will help close that gap by owning real PCB designs, bring-up procedures, and hardware validation work that ships to physical robots
• The robotic hand is one of the densest and most demanding electronics integration challenges in all of robotics — small form factor, high channel count, mixed signal, high flex cycle life, and real-time performance all at once — and we need EE talent that is excited by that challenge, not intimidated by it
• We are a small startup moving at speed — interns own subsystems, spin boards, and debug hardware on the bench alongside the core team
• Every intern is a candidate for a full-time role; we are building the founding electrical engineering team for a product that will define what humanoid hands can do, and we want people who want to be part of that from the beginning

What Kind of person are we looking for

• Currently pursuing a BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related field — with solid coursework in circuits, electronics, and systems
• Strong grasp of analog circuit fundamentals: Ohm’s law, Kirchhoff’s laws, op-amp configurations, voltage dividers, filter design, and signal conditioning — you can analyze a schematic and spot problems before powering anything up
• Understanding of power electronics basics: switching regulators (buck, boost), linear regulators, H-bridge motor drive topologies, and the difference between continuous and discontinuous conduction modes
• Foundational knowledge of digital systems: logic levels, pull-up/pull-down resistors, GPIO, SPI/I²C/UART protocols, and how a microcontroller talks to peripheral ICs at the register level
• Hands-on experience with schematic capture and PCB layout in KiCad, Altium Designer, or Eagle — you have designed at least one board that you ordered, assembled, and powered up yourself
• Understanding of PCB layout best practices for mixed-signal designs: ground plane management, power plane separation, decoupling capacitor placement, trace impedance, and keeping analog and digital domains from contaminating each other
• Familiarity with rigid-flex or flex PCB design concepts is a strong plus — robotic fingers have almost no room for rigid boards and connectors, so flex circuits are a primary design medium on this platform
• Ability to read component datasheets end to end — you can select an appropriate motor driver IC, understand its thermal limits, wire up its bootstrap circuitry, and configure it over SPI without being walked through it step by step