Intern - Mechatronics Engineer

The role

This mechatronics intern will build and iterate on prototyping rigs and perform lower-level controls and calibration work. The role supports mechanical design tasks and bridges mechanical and controls as the platform matures.

What you will do

• Build and iterate on prototyping rigs through mechanical assembly, wiring, and basic controls integration
• Take on lower-level controls tasks such as sensor wiring, calibration, and simple test scripts
• Support mechanical design tasks including CAD iteration, fixture design, and fit checks
• Bridge mechanical and controls by running reliability/test-rig cycles and troubleshooting integration issues
• Translate mechanical design changes into controls adjustments
• Explore mechanistic interpretability on models using techniques like probing and activation analysis
• Spot and characterize unexpected behaviors during human interaction
• Document test results and communicate issues to the team

Required qualifications

• Pursuing a degree in Mechatronics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
• Exposure to CAD (SolidWorks, Onshape, Fusion360, or similar)
• Basic controls/embedded work from class projects, personal builds, or prior internships
• Hands-on experience with rapid prototyping, machining, microcontrollers, or simple test rigs
• Comfortable jumping into unfamiliar systems
• Care about users and feel ownership over outcomes
• Think holistically about systems and approach problems with creative solutions

Nice to have

• Exposure to mechanistic interpretability or model-internals work (probing, activation patching, sparse autoencoders, or similar)

About the company

Human Computer Lab is a research lab building character robots that feel alive and responsive. Their goal is to push the frontier of human-robot interaction by making technology more legible, emotionally intuitive, and human-centered.