Senior Actuator Engineer (Hands Team)
Rhoda AI
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 design the actuation at the heart of the hand: compact, efficient motor-and-gearbox units that must deliver human-hand dexterity in a human-hand package. Your actuators define what the entire system can do. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Design compact motor-gearbox actuator units for the hand's fingers and wrist, from concept through production - Architect miniaturized geartrains — especially planetary — that hit torque, backlash, and packaging targets at finger scale - Size and select motors against torque, speed, power-draw, thermal, and efficiency requirements - Build and run bench and dyno tests to characterize actuator performance, efficiency, and durability - Partner with the structures engineer on packaging and thermal paths, and with the electrical engineer on drive and sensing integration WHAT YOU BRING - Track record of designing and shipping gearboxes, especially planetary gearboxes - Experience miniaturizing geartrains for tightly packaged, weight- and volume-constrained applications - Strong command of motor sizing and selection, including power draw, torque density, and efficiency analysis NICE TO HAVE - Gear design experience — tooth profiles, materials, and manufacturing methods - Experience with tendon- or linkage-driven finger actuation - Familiarity with backdrivability and transparency requirements for teleoperation