Rhoda AI
Senior Mechanical Engineer- Arm
Mountain View · Senior
Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 8 days ago
BudgetingSolidWorksCATIAFusion 360Structural AnalysisGD&TRoboticsMechanical DesignHardware DesignResearchCommunicationTolerance AnalysisActuators
About the role
- 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.
Responsibilities
- Own the design of the upper arm end to end - shoulder and elbow joint structures, links, and housings - making the trade-offs between stiffness, mass, inertia, cost, and manufacturability under the highest structural loads in the arm chain
- Define and own the interface to the torso, including the structural mount, load paths into the frame, alignment and registration features, and the electrical pass-through that feeds the entire arm - driving this interface to closure with the torso team
- Define and own the interface to the lower arm at the elbow, partnering with the lower-arm owner on structural attachment, alignment, connectorization, and serviceability
- Own the harness trunk through the upper arm: the main power and data runs feeding the lower arm and hand, routing across the shoulder and elbow joints, service loops, strain relief, connectorization, and bend-cycle durability validated against the platform's full life requirements
- Own the electrical packaging within the upper arm - mounting and enclosing PCBAs and sensor boards in a moving, space-constrained limb, working with the EE team on board outlines, connector placement and access, keep-outs, grounding and shielding provisions, and vibration-tolerant mounting
- Own the thermal design of the upper arm - conduction paths from the limb's highest-power actuators and packaged electronics into structure, thermal interface strategy, and validation under sustained duty cycles - in partnership with actuation and electrical teams
- Participate in FMEAs and define the validation and durability test strategy for the subsystem, and lead root cause analysis when hardware issues arise in the arm
- Create and maintain CAD models, drawings, tolerance stacks, interface control documents, and BOMs through design reviews and manufacturing handoffs
- Plan and execute prototype builds and test campaigns - structural, thermal, and cable-durability - and iterate quickly and rigorously from test results
- Mentor junior engineers and raise the bar on design practices, documentation, and design review rigor across the team
Requirements
- 5+ years of experience in mechanical design of robots, robotic arms, or complex electromechanical products
- Demonstrated ability to make and defend engineering trade-offs - stiffness vs. mass, integration vs. serviceability, performance vs. cost - with quantitative rigor
- Strong experience designing structural components for high-load dynamic systems, including structural analysis correlated to physical test
- Strong hands-on experience with cable routing, harness design, and electromechanical integration in moving mechanisms
- Experience packaging PCBAs and electronics in tightly constrained mechanical envelopes, collaborating with electrical engineers on board outlines, connectors, and mounting
- Expert-level proficiency with CAD software (Catia, SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Onshape, or similar), including complex assemblies and tolerance analysis
Nice to have
- Experience designing robot arms, manipulators, or other serial-link mechanisms
- Experience with mass and inertia optimization for dynamic limbs or payload-sensitive structures, including topology optimization or structural lightweighting
- Familiarity with high-flex cable selection, continuous-flex ratings, and bend-cycle testing across articulating joints
- Experience designing structural castings or complex machined housings for high-load joints
- Working knowledge of GD&T (ASME Y14.5) applied to precision assemblies, including datum strategy for multi-team interfaces
- Experience with FMEAs, design reviews, or structured reliability programs
- Experience taking a subsystem from concept through DVT/PVT into production
- BS in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related field (MS preferred)
Company info
- At Rhoda AI, we're building the next generation of generalist intelligent robots.
- We're looking for a Senior Mechanical Engineer to own the upper arm of our humanoid robot platform.
- This is a high-ownership role at the structural and electrical convergence point of the platform.
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