Actuation Engineer, Gear Design

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are hiring a Gear Designer to architect and detail the geared powertrains inside our robotic systems. The package envelopes are measured in millimeters, and the conventional answers from automotive or industrial robotics often do not fit. We are looking for someone who treats the transmission architecture itself as a design variable, not a catalog selection.

We do not want a CAD operator who fills in standard templates. We want an engineer who can derive a tooth profile from the definition of conjugate action, defend every choice of module, ratio split, and profile modification on physical grounds, and reason quantitatively about the tradeoffs that actually matter in robotics: backlash vs. efficiency, backdrivability vs. holding torque, torque density vs. compliance, and inertia vs. bandwidth

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Treat the choice of transmission architecture as part of the design problem, not a given. Evaluate the full space of geared, flexure-based, and hybrid solutions against torque density, backdrivability, transmission ratio, axial and radial envelope, transparency to external load, manufacturability, and cost. Be able to defend the choice on physical grounds, and be willing to invent when nothing in the standard catalog fits.
• Perform macro-geometry sizing: module, pressure angle, helix angle (when applicable), tooth counts, profile shift, and face width, under the tight diameter and length constraints.
• Perform micro-geometry design: tip and root relief, crowning, lead modifications, tuned to the misalignment behavior of compliant, low-mass housings rather than the rigid steel cases of industrial gearboxes.
• Run rating calculations per ISO 6336 / AGMA 2001 with realistic robotics duty cycles (high cycle count, frequent reversal, low average torque with high peak), and translate the results into material, heat-treat, and surface-finish specifications appropriate to small modules (often m < 0.5).
• Partner with manufacturing on processes appropriate to small modules and short runs, including wire EDM, MIM, 5-axis grinding, fine-blanking, and etc..
• Support test, FEA, and dynamic identification: bench characterization of efficiency maps, lost motion, torque ripple, and thermal behavior of new designs.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 5+ years of hands-on gear or transmission design experience.
• Production fluency with at least one gear analysis package: KISSsoft, Romax, MASTA, or equivalent.
• Working fluency with ISO 6336 and AGMA 2001/2101, and with ISO 1328 / DIN 3962 for tolerancing.
• Demonstrated ability to make design decisions from Loaded Tooth Contact Analysis, not just generate reports.
• Experience releasing a transmission or geared subassembly into prototype or production hardware.