Intern - Controls Engineer

The role

You will design and tune control systems, integrate actuators and sensors, and develop control algorithms. You will work at the intersection of hardware and software to make the LeLamp robot move and respond.

What you will do

• Design and tune control systems for actuated subsystems including motion control, feedback, and dynamic response.
• Integrate actuators, sensors, encoders, and embedded electronics into reliable mechatronic assemblies.
• Develop control algorithms in C++ and/or Python from simulation through deployment on hardware.
• Build and maintain URDF models and simulation environments aligned with the physical platform.
• Diagnose real-world control issues such as instability, backlash, latency, drift, and sensor noise.
• Collaborate with animators, mechanical and electrical engineers on actuator selection, structure, sensing strategy and motion fine-tuning.
• Develop motion primitives and expressive behaviors that shape how the robot moves.
• Maintain documentation of control architecture and tuning decisions as the system evolves.

Required qualifications

• Pursuing a Bachelors/Masters in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, or Software Engineering.
• Hands-on experience tuning control systems on real robotic hardware.
• Fluent in C++ and/or Python for robotics or embedded control work.
• Experience with ROS or ROS2 and real-time robotics software stacks.
• Comfortable working with CAD tools such as SolidWorks or Onshape.
• Experience with actuators, motor drivers, encoders, and IMUs across the full signal chain.
• Strong at hardware debugging using tools like oscilloscopes and signal tracing.
• Experience building URDF models and working with simulators such as Gazebo, MuJoCo, or Isaac Sim.
• Comfortable working in environments where system architecture is still evolving.
• Experience with impedance control, torque control, or whole-body control on physical robots.
• Experience with sensor fusion, state estimation, or Kalman filtering on hardware systems.
• Embedded programming experience on microcontrollers or DSPs in a controls context.

Nice to have

• Drawn to the physical reality of robotics.
• Move quickly through iteration cycles and don't wait for perfect conditions to make progress.
• Take ownership over the feel of the robot's motion, not just its correctness.
• Work well in small, collaborative teams where controls, mechanical, and electrical are in constant conversation.
• Care about the person on the other end, and understand that how the robot moves is a big part of how it feels to live with.

About the company

Human Computer Lab is a research lab building character robots that feel alive and responsive. Their first robot, LeLamp, explores a new category of consumer robotics.