Prototype Engineer
Physical Intelligence, San Francisco
What you will do
- Rapidly design and fabricate mechanical, electrical, and sensor prototypes to support research experiments and engineering development.
- Partner directly with researchers to understand experimental requirements and translate them into buildable hardware systems.
- Build end-to-end prototype systems: from concept sketches through CAD, fabrication, wiring, sensor integration, and validation.
- Develop quick-turn PCBs, wiring harnesses, and cable assemblies for prototype electronics.
- Evaluate and select sensors, actuators, and off-the-shelf components for integration into prototype systems.
- Design and iterate on fixtures, jigs, test rigs, and custom tooling to enable research workflows.
- Perform hands-on assembly, troubleshooting, and debugging of electromechanical and robotic systems.
- Collaborate with electrical and robot software engineers to integrate hardware with control systems, firmware, and runtime software.
- Identify and address failure modes specific to hardware operating in unstructured, real-world environments (contact forces, wear, thermal effects, cable management, etc.).