Senior Firmware Engineer

Roboticsconnected; Mountain View (WY); In loco; USD 120.000 - 160.000; Tempo pieno

Descrizione del lavoro

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.

Competenze

• 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.

Mansioni

• 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.

Conoscenze

C/C++

ARM Cortex-M

RTOS

Embedded firmware

I2C

SPI

EtherCAT

JTAG

Oscilloscopes

DMA

Real-time systems

Unit tests

Formazione

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

Strumenti

FreeRTOS

Zephyr RTOS

JTAG tools

Descrizione del lavoro

At Rhoda AI, we’re building the next generation of generalist intelligent robots. We own the full robotics stack from high-performance hardware and robot systems to the infrastructure and state-of-the-art foundation world models that control our robots. Our robots are designed to be generalists capable of operating in complex, real-world environments and handling long-tail edge cases, made possible by our cutting edge research and end-to-end system design. We've raised over $450M and are investing aggressively in model research, infrastructure, hardware development, and manufacturing scale-up to make generalist robotics a reality.

You will own the development of Rhoda's low-level firmware stack for distributed real-time control across humanoid platforms. This role centers on deterministic communication, control-loop synchronization, and embedded software robustness in an EtherCAT environment spanning dozens of joints, sensors, and distributed controllers. You will design, implement, and validate firmware components that guarantee sub-millisecond coordination between motor drivers, safety controllers, and perception nodes — bridging the mechanical, electrical, and control domains.

This role is an MTS with a clear path to grow!

What You'll Do

• Select and tune RTOS; define priorities and scheduling; optimize interrupt and DMA paths; harden watchdogs and recovery; measure and guard timing budgets
• Design, implement, and maintain low-level firmware for real-time motion control nodes over EtherCAT
• Develop synchronization and communication layers ensuring deterministic cycle times (<1ms)
• Configure and optimize EtherCAT masters and slaves (distributed clocks, mailbox protocols, PDO mapping)
• Implement real-time safety mechanisms (Safe Torque Off, watchdogs, and heartbeat monitoring)
• Collaborate with Electronics, Controls, and Systems teams to define timing budgets and data interfaces
• Contribute to the architecture of the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) and firmware APIs for actuator control
• Develop unit, HIL, and integration tests for firmware validation
• Profile and optimize ISR and DMA paths to minimize latency and jitter
• Support bring-up and debugging of custom actuator controllers and sensor boards
• Document firmware architecture, test results, and safety compliance evidence for design reviews

What We’re Looking For

• Bachelor's or higher in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Robotics
• 2+ years of experience in embedded firmware development for real-time control systems
• Experience with low-level system interfaces (I2C, SPI, Ethernet, USB, CAN bus)
• Experience with micro-controller firmware development across ARM Cortex-M and similar architectures
• Proficiency in C/C++ and experience with low-level debugging (JTAG, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes)
• Experience with real time operating systems (RTOS) (FreeRTOS, Zephyr RTOS)
• Familiarity with SPI, I²C, UART, PWM, ADC, and sensor interface design
• Demonstrated ability to write reliable, well-structured, and maintainable embedded code in safety‑critical environments
• Evidence of shipping real‑time‑critical products

Nice to Have (But Not Required)

• Embedded Linux software development. Board Support Package (BSP) development and integration on Linux-based platforms
• Linux kernel programming: device tree, Kconfig, device drivers, kernel modules.
• Experience with GMSL2 and MIPI-CSI2 camera drivers (V4L2).
• Experience with Field-Oriented Control (FOC) implementation for BLDC motor drives
• Yocto Project / Bitbake for custom distribution builds.