Robotics Engineer (System Integration)

About the role

The AI Robot Association (AIRoA) is building a data platform for generative AI foundation models in robotics, backed by a 20.5 billion yen project funded by METI and NEDO. It is collecting one million hours of humanoid robot operation data with more than 100 robots and developing a Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model. This role integrates and validates robot software and supports the VLA team in making models and learned policies run reliably on real robots.

Key responsibilities

• Integrate and validate ROS/ROS2-based robot software, data acquisition interfaces and modules on humanoid and mobile robots.
• Design and implement state management, mode switching and system interfaces for safe, stable operation, working with teleoperation, control, navigation and AI/VLA modules.
• Drive integration testing, real-robot evaluation and issue isolation using simulation and physical robots.
• Support the VLA team with software interfaces, state management and connections to evaluation environments.
• Design robust robot software and hardware systems for real-world use, and debug and optimize performance across perception, control and integration layers.
• Help integrate research prototypes into common platforms so they run reproducibly on real robots.

Required profile

• Masters or PhD in robotics, mechanical, electrical or computer engineering, or a related field, with at least three years of relevant industry experience (or equivalent).
• Hands-on experience developing, integrating and debugging real robots or mechatronic systems, including dual-arm mobile manipulators and humanoid robots.
• Experience controlling real robot systems with ROS/ROS2, including full-stack integration and deployment, or integrating multiple software modules on physical robots.
• Ability to understand and connect interfaces across sensors, actuators, control systems, AI modules and UIs on real robots.
• Strong C++ and Python skills, with autonomous work and effective collaboration in a multidisciplinary team.

Preferred qualifications

• Papers in leading international robotics conferences or journals.
• Experience moving complex robot systems from prototype to real-robot validation and deployment.
• Tactile sensing, teleoperation, robot simulators (Isaac Sim, MuJoCo), CI/CD pipelines, and evaluation tool development.