Real-Time Firmware Engineer for Robotic Motion

Roboticsconnected; Mountain View (WY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Rhoda AI is seeking an engineer to own the low-level firmware stack for distributed real-time control across humanoid platforms. You will ensure sub-millisecond coordination between motor drivers, safety controllers, and perception nodes in EtherCAT environments.

You will design, implement, and validate firmware components, optimize RTOS and interrupt paths, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to meet timing budgets and safety requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or higher in Electrical/Computer Engineering or Robotics.
• 2+ years of embedded firmware development for real-time control systems.
• Experience with low-level interfaces (I2C, SPI, Ethernet, USB, CAN).
• Proficiency in C/C++ and low-level debugging (JTAG, scopes).
• Experience with RTOS (FreeRTOS, Zephyr) and real-time safety concepts.

Responsibilities

• Select and tune RTOS; define priorities and scheduling; optimize interrupt paths.
• Design and maintain low-level firmware for real-time motion control over EtherCAT.
• Develop synchronization layers to ensure deterministic cycle times (<1ms).
• Configure EtherCAT masters/slaves; manage distributed clocks and PDO mapping.
• Implement real-time safety mechanisms (watchdogs, Safe Torque Off).
• Collaborate across Electronics, Controls, and Systems teams on timing budgets.
• Contribute to hardware abstraction layer and firmware APIs for actuators.
• Develop unit, HIL, and integration tests; optimize ISR and DMA for latency/jitter.

Skills

C/C++

ARM Cortex-M

RTOS

Embedded firmware

I2C

SPI

EtherCAT

JTAG

Oscilloscopes

DMA

Real-time systems

Unit tests

Education

Bachelor's or higher in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Robotics

Tools

FreeRTOS

Zephyr RTOS

JTAG tools

Job description

Rhoda AI is seeking an engineer to own the low-level firmware stack for distributed real-time control across humanoid platforms. You will ensure sub-millisecond coordination between motor drivers, safety controllers, and perception nodes in EtherCAT environments.

You will design, implement, and validate firmware components, optimize RTOS and interrupt paths, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to meet timing budgets and safety requirements.