Whole-Body Controls Engineer — Real-Time Robot Motion

Gram Games; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation bonus

On-site in El Segundo

Job summary

GRAM seeks a Controls Engineer to design and implement real-time, whole-body controllers coordinating motion and contact forces across multiple joints for insectoid hardware. You will develop control-oriented models, run hardware-in-the-loop tests, and validate on the physical machine in El Segundo, CA.

Responsibilities include implementing real-time C++ control software, integrating estimation and trajectory generation, and building robust test paths to ensure stability and performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in a relevant field
• Experience developing feedback control for multi-DOF systems
• Strong C++ and Python skills; knowledge of rigid-body dynamics and numerical methods
• Hands-on experience with a controls or dynamics stack (Drake/Pinocchio/MuJoCo/ROS 2 control or equivalent)
• Deployed a controller on hardware with measurable results

Responsibilities

• Design whole-body controllers coordinating motion and contact forces across coupled DOFs.
• Implement real-time control software in C++ with timing, stability, saturation, and fault handling.
• Develop control-oriented dynamics models, system identification, and actuator characterizations.
• Integrate state estimation, trajectory generation, manipulation, embedded systems, and safety logic into a testable control path.
• Define envelopes for tracking error, stability, disturbance rejection, and latency; plan recovery.
• Build controller simulations, hardware-in-the-loop tests, and physical-machine tests to reproduce failures and prevent regressions.
• Differentiate controller defects from estimation error, unmodeled dynamics, actuator limits, and mechanical faults.
• Document model validity and confirm simulated results on hardware.

Skills

C++

Python

Rigid-body dynamics

Multi-DOF control

ROS 2 control

Education

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, robotics, controls, applied mathematics, or related field

Tools

Drake

Pinocchio

MuJoCo

ROS 2 control

Eigen

Job description

GRAM seeks a Controls Engineer to design and implement real-time, whole-body controllers coordinating motion and contact forces across multiple joints for insectoid hardware. You will develop control-oriented models, run hardware-in-the-loop tests, and validate on the physical machine in El Segundo, CA.

Responsibilities include implementing real-time C++ control software, integrating estimation and trajectory generation, and building robust test paths to ensure stability and performance.