Humanoid
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Humanoid is the first AI and robotics company in the UK, creating the world’s most advanced, reliable, commercially scalable, and safe humanoid robots. Our first humanoid robot HMND 01 is a next-gen labour automation unit, providing highly efficient services across various use cases, starting with industrial applications.
Overview
We are looking for an exceptional
Senior or Staff Control Engineer
to join our Control Team
in Boston . You will be a key contributor to the development and evolution of our whole-body control (WBC) software stack—the layer that unifies locomotion, manipulation, and interaction control for our robotic systems. What You’ll Do
Whole-Body Control Architecture: Design, implement, and extend whole-body control frameworks that coordinate multiple robot subsystems (locomotion, manipulation, teleoperation). Develop and maintain mid-level controllers that translate motion objectives into coherent, stable, real-time control actions. Ensure controllers are modular, deterministic, and extensible, supporting both classical and learning-based control strategies. Architect and tune low-level controllers for balanced performance, supporting compliant behaviors for learning tasks and precise fallback modes for safety. Develop and enforce safety mechanisms within WBC to manage contact, stability, and recovery during combined locomotion and manipulation (loco-manipulation) behaviors. Develop and integrate RL-based controllers and policies within the WBC architecture. Define clear, robust interfaces between classical controllers and learned components, enabling smooth blending and fallback behaviors. Collaborate with the Imitation Learning and Deployment teams to ensure compatibility of runtime systems and deployment pipelines while maintaining full ownership of control and WBC components. Shape RL action spaces to promote safe exploration, avoiding extreme behaviors while enabling smooth policy execution. Work with deployment teams to align RL outputs with hardware realities, using simulation penalties and transfer techniques for reliable rollout. Collaborate daily with control engineers across Boston, London, and Vancouver, aligning control strategies, architecture, and codebase. Benchmark actuator properties (like torque limits and delays) to refine simulation models, closing the sim2real gap. Validate controllers in simulation and hardware environments, iterating closely with system-level testing teams. Participate in design reviews, profiling, and performance analysis for high-impact control modules. Qualifications
MS or PhD in Robotics, Control, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field. 5+ years of experience developing control software for complex robotic systems (humanoids, legged platforms, or articulated manipulators). Strong theoretical and practical background in classical control (model-based control, observers, optimal control, QP-based control). Proven ability to design and implement real-time control algorithms in C++ or Python. Deep understanding of robot dynamics, kinematics, and control optimization. Experience validating control architectures both in simulation and on physical hardware. Nice to have
Experience developing or integrating reinforcement-learning-based control policies for high-DOF systems. Familiarity with whole-body control frameworks, including task hierarchies, optimization-based control, and constraint handling. Background in real-time or distributed control systems, including ROS2 or real-time middleware. Strong software engineering skills: modular design, benchmarking, testing, and performance profiling. Demonstrated ability to collaborate across geographically distributed teams and disciplines. What We Offer
Competitive salary plus participation in our Stock Option Plan Paid vacation with adjustments based on location to comply with local labor laws Travel opportunities to our London and Vancouver offices Freedom to influence the product and own key initiatives Collaboration with top-tier engineers, researchers, and product experts in AI and robotics Startup culture prioritizing speed, transparency, and minimal bureaucracy
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We are looking for an exceptional
Senior or Staff Control Engineer
to join our Control Team
in Boston . You will be a key contributor to the development and evolution of our whole-body control (WBC) software stack—the layer that unifies locomotion, manipulation, and interaction control for our robotic systems. What You’ll Do
Whole-Body Control Architecture: Design, implement, and extend whole-body control frameworks that coordinate multiple robot subsystems (locomotion, manipulation, teleoperation). Develop and maintain mid-level controllers that translate motion objectives into coherent, stable, real-time control actions. Ensure controllers are modular, deterministic, and extensible, supporting both classical and learning-based control strategies. Architect and tune low-level controllers for balanced performance, supporting compliant behaviors for learning tasks and precise fallback modes for safety. Develop and enforce safety mechanisms within WBC to manage contact, stability, and recovery during combined locomotion and manipulation (loco-manipulation) behaviors. Develop and integrate RL-based controllers and policies within the WBC architecture. Define clear, robust interfaces between classical controllers and learned components, enabling smooth blending and fallback behaviors. Collaborate with the Imitation Learning and Deployment teams to ensure compatibility of runtime systems and deployment pipelines while maintaining full ownership of control and WBC components. Shape RL action spaces to promote safe exploration, avoiding extreme behaviors while enabling smooth policy execution. Work with deployment teams to align RL outputs with hardware realities, using simulation penalties and transfer techniques for reliable rollout. Collaborate daily with control engineers across Boston, London, and Vancouver, aligning control strategies, architecture, and codebase. Benchmark actuator properties (like torque limits and delays) to refine simulation models, closing the sim2real gap. Validate controllers in simulation and hardware environments, iterating closely with system-level testing teams. Participate in design reviews, profiling, and performance analysis for high-impact control modules. Qualifications
MS or PhD in Robotics, Control, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field. 5+ years of experience developing control software for complex robotic systems (humanoids, legged platforms, or articulated manipulators). Strong theoretical and practical background in classical control (model-based control, observers, optimal control, QP-based control). Proven ability to design and implement real-time control algorithms in C++ or Python. Deep understanding of robot dynamics, kinematics, and control optimization. Experience validating control architectures both in simulation and on physical hardware. Nice to have
Experience developing or integrating reinforcement-learning-based control policies for high-DOF systems. Familiarity with whole-body control frameworks, including task hierarchies, optimization-based control, and constraint handling. Background in real-time or distributed control systems, including ROS2 or real-time middleware. Strong software engineering skills: modular design, benchmarking, testing, and performance profiling. Demonstrated ability to collaborate across geographically distributed teams and disciplines. What We Offer
Competitive salary plus participation in our Stock Option Plan Paid vacation with adjustments based on location to comply with local labor laws Travel opportunities to our London and Vancouver offices Freedom to influence the product and own key initiatives Collaboration with top-tier engineers, researchers, and product experts in AI and robotics Startup culture prioritizing speed, transparency, and minimal bureaucracy
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