Apptronik
Firmware Engineer - Actuation
About this role
Apptronik seeks a Firmware Engineer to develop motor control firmware for their humanoid robot Apollo. You'll design brushless motor control systems, optimize real-time performance, and ensure reliability across production deployments while collaborating with cross-functional teams.
What you'll do
- Develop and maintain motor control firmware including field-oriented control (FOC) and torque control for brushless motors
- Conduct system identification, plant modeling, and controller tuning for production actuators
- Design hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and software-in-the-loop (SIL) testing strategies for actuation systems
- Implement fault detection, fault injection, and recovery mechanisms for safety-critical motor control
- Support hardware bring-up from prototype through production and manage field performance across deployed fleets
- Participate in code reviews, design reviews, and contribute to firmware architecture decisions
What they're looking for
- C/C++ programming
- Brushless motor control and field-oriented control (FOC)
- Hard real-time embedded firmware development
- EtherCAT real-time communications
- Hardware debugging (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers)
- Embedded protocols (SPI, UART, RS485, CAN)
- Control theory and system identification
- Python, Docker, Git
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Apptronik
Apptronik builds Apollo, a humanoid robot designed for manufacturing, logistics, and other industrial applications. The company is hiring firmware engineers, software engineers, controls specialists, and networking engineers to develop embedded systems, motor control, motion pipelines, and wireless connectivity that power the robot's dexterous manipulation and autonomous operation.
- Website
- apptronik.com
Likely interview questions
- Walk us through your experience developing motor control firmware for brushless motors. What control architectures (FOC, current loops, torque control) have you implemented, and what challenges did you face?
- Describe a time you debugged a real-time embedded firmware issue in production. What tools and techniques did you use, and how did you ensure the fix didn't introduce new problems?