Senior Actuator Engineer (Hands Team)
- Salary
- $175K - $280K
- Level
- Senior
Not stated in the posting: work type, visa.
Open. First seen 2 October 2026.
About the role
Rhoda AI's standard text
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
What this role asks for
75% of this description is written for the role. The rest is Rhoda AI's standard text, folded away below.
Read against Rhoda AI's other open postings on this site.
The team: Hardware
This role is one of 14 open in Hardware.
WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS
Python (7 of 14), Embedded Systems (5 of 14), GD&T (4 of 14), CATIA (3 of 14), MATLAB (3 of 14), C++ (2 of 14), FEA (2 of 14)
OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM
- Staff Thermal Systems Integration Engineer posted Sep 9
- Robotics Test Engineer posted Aug 27
- Senior Hardware Reliability Engineer posted Aug 24
- Senior Mechanical Engineer- Arm posted Jul 13
- Senior Mechanical Engineer- Robot Head posted Jul 13
- Staff Robot Controls Integration Engineer posted Jul 9
- Senior/Staff Actuator Test & Equipment Engineer posted Jun 29
- Staff Robotics System Safety Engineer posted Jun 22
- Senior System Engineer- AI Safety posted Jun 22
- Senior Design Engineer - Actuators posted Jun 22
- Staff Electrical Engineer (Sensors & Imaging Systems) posted May 26
- Senior Mechanical Design Engineer posted May 13
- Senior System Safety Engineer- Robot Stability posted Mar 10
From the team and dates on Rhoda AI's own job board.
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