Embedded Hardware Team
Designing and validating the industrial computing appliances, functional safety circuitry, and handheld operator pendants powering Mujin's real-world robotics systems.
Team Overview
The Embedded Hardware team develops the physical computing and electronic systems that power Mujin’s industrial automation platforms. From the Mujin Controller cabinet to the Mujin Pendant, the team designs, brings up, and validates ruggedized computing hardware that enables robots, vision sensors, and intelligence software to operate reliably and safely in demanding 24/7 production facilities.
Our work sits at the foundation of every Mujin deployment. While software determines what a robot should do, our hardware ensures it can execute deterministically, safely, and continuously without interruption. Mujin systems operate in logistics centers and manufacturing plants where downtime directly impacts customer operations. The team builds the control hardware that interfaces directly with multi-axis industrial arms, high-speed conveyors, optical sensor rigs, and safety interlocks, running Mujin’s intelligence stack at the physical edge.
Products & Applications Powered by This Team
MujinController Hardware Appliance
Ruggedized industrial computing cabinet with real-time execution nodes, certified functional safety circuitry (ISO 13849-1 / IEC 62061), and multi-vendor industrial fieldbus interfaces.
Mujin Pendant & Safety Control
Handheld operator interface enabling intuitive on-site cell configuration, jog control, and live monitoring, integrated with fail-safe emergency stop and three-position enable circuits.
Tech Stack
Software & Engineering Tools
- EDA & Schematic Design: Altium Designer for schematic capture, multi-layer PCB layout, and design rule verification
- Requirements & Traceability: IBM DOORS Next for systems engineering, requirements management, and verification traceability
- Revision Control: Git for hardware schematics, PCB project versioning, and engineering change management
Electronics & System Design
- Circuit Design: Digital and analog circuit design for high-reliability industrial automation environments
- Board Engineering: Multi-layer PCB design, layout review, and signal/power integrity (SI/PI) analysis
- Computing Platforms: Embedded computing platforms, microcontrollers, and real-time processing architectures
- Industrial Interfaces: Fieldbus physical layers, industrial communication interfaces, and high-density I/O
- Power & Signal Integrity: Power distribution design, DC-DC regulation, and electromagnetic noise mitigation
- Functional Safety: Safety-related control architectures, emergency stop circuitry, and fail-safe interlocks
- Lifecycle & Sourcing: Component lifecycle management, second-sourcing strategy, and bill-of-materials (BOM) risk analysis
Hardware Validation & Production Tools
- Signal & Protocol Debugging: High-bandwidth mixed-signal oscilloscopes and logic analyzers
- Measurement & Power Analysis: Precision power analyzers, multimeters, and arbitrary signal generators
- Custom Bring-Up Testbeds: Dedicated verification jigs and custom automated test harnesses
- Environmental Qualification: Thermal chambers, vibration test fixtures, and environmental stress equipment
- Production Testing: End-of-line manufacturing validation fixtures and supplier quality test setups
Technical Challenges
Next-Generation Mujin Controller
Challenge: The Mujin Controller is the industrial computer running our autonomous robotics stack at customer sites. It must deliver extreme computational throughput, long-term 24/7 reliability, and high maintainability while interfacing with an expanding range of industrial robots, 3D sensor arrays, and factory fieldbuses in electrically noisy, space-constrained environments.
Approach: Architect and engineer the modular controller platform end-to-end from concept through volume production. Design multi-layer high-speed digital and analog PCBs, optimize power delivery and thermal dissipation, ensure electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and implement comprehensive component lifecycle risk mitigation.
Impact: Establishes the physical hardware foundation for Mujin’s global automation deployments, reliably powering industrial robot cells handling hundreds of thousands of operations daily.
Mujin Pendant & Operator Safety Hardware
Challenge: The Mujin Pendant is the handheld device floor operators use to control, jog, and monitor robot cells on-site. The device must withstand harsh industrial handling, provide intuitive tactile operation, maintain robust deterministic communication with the controller, and satisfy strict Category 3/4 PLd functional safety standards.
Approach: Develop ruggedized handheld hardware incorporating redundant safety signal routing, three-position enabling switches, emergency stop integration, and noise-immune communication physical layers, balanced with ergonomic weight and thermal considerations.
Impact: Provides operators with a safe, responsive physical interface to interact directly with high-speed industrial machinery while guaranteeing fail-safe emergency stopping.
Key Responsibilities
- Design and review digital and analog circuits used across Mujin industrial hardware appliances and controller platforms.
- Develop new hardware architectures from initial requirements and schematics through prototyping and volume manufacturing.
- Build and validate hardware prototypes using laboratory instrumentation including high-bandwidth oscilloscopes and logic analyzers.
- Debug and resolve complex hardware issues at the component, board, subsystem, and integrated system levels.
- Collaborate closely with embedded software and robotics engineers during board bring-up and firmware driver integration.
- Partner with manufacturing and assembly vendors to support new product introductions (NPI) and ongoing production improvements.
- Evaluate component selection, lifecycle risks, alternate sourcing, and long-term bill-of-materials (BOM) maintainability.
- Author comprehensive design specifications, verification test plans, and regulatory compliance reports.
Weekly Engineering Rhythm
- 25% Circuit design, schematic development, and technical reviews
- 25% Hardware debugging, validation, and reliability testing
- 20% Design documentation, verification planning, and reporting
- 15% Prototype development and system integration
- 15% Manufacturing, supplier, and production support
Who Will Enjoy and Excel on This Team
If you want your electrical and hardware engineering work to directly drive real-world machines rather than existing only as theoretical schematics, the Embedded Hardware team offers an exceptional environment. You will excel and have the most fun here if you:
- Enjoy Building Real Products: You find it rewarding to see your board designs move beyond lab prototypes into mass-produced hardware deployed in customer facilities worldwide.
- Thrive Across the Full Product Lifecycle: You enjoy participating in every phase—from early architecture concept and schematic capture to board bring-up, validation, and factory manufacturing.
- Love Systematic Root-Cause Debugging: You take pride in dissecting subtle signal anomalies, noise coupling, or component failures using lab instruments until the exact root cause is proven.
- Prioritize Industrial Safety and Reliability: You care about designing fail-safe systems that operate without degradation 24 hours a day under demanding factory conditions.
- Excel in Multidisciplinary Collaboration: You enjoy working side-by-side with embedded software, mechanical, robotics, and production engineers to solve unified system-level problems.
- Want Hardware to Drive Automation: You are energized by knowing that the circuits you layout and validate directly power heavy industrial robots and cutting-edge logistics machinery.
Who Might Struggle on This Team
- Engineers who prefer purely theoretical modeling: If you dislike interacting with physical hardware, probing signals on test benches, or working directly with lab equipment, this hands-on engineering environment will not be a good fit.
- Engineers who dislike board-level debugging: If tracking down hardware bugs with oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and multimeters feels tedious rather than engaging, you may find our validation rhythm frustrating.
- Engineers seeking narrow, siloed roles: If you prefer focusing exclusively on one small aspect of design without engaging in validation, manufacturing support, component lifecycle management, or system integration, our broad-ownership model will feel overwhelming.
Join the Team
Qualifications & Growth
- Electronics & Hardware Fundamentals: Strong foundation in digital and analog circuit design, schematic capture, and PCB layout principles.
- Hands-on Lab & Debugging Skills: Practical experience bringing up boards and debugging hardware using oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, power analyzers, and signal generators.
- Technical Documentation & Verification: Experience developing verification test plans, authoring clear design specifications, and documenting test reports.
- Systematic Problem Solving: Proven ability to investigate root causes methodically and collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary engineering teams.
- Industrial Edge Computing Architecture: High-performance computing platform design specifically engineered for industrial robotics and real-time perception.
- Certified Functional Safety Design: Fail-safe hardware architectures compliant with ISO 13849 / IEC 62061 industrial safety standards.
- Hardware Reliability & Environmental Testing: Thermal analysis, EMC surge/immunity qualification, and accelerated lifetime testing.
- End-to-End Productization: Taking complex industrial electronic systems from early whiteboard concept all the way through volume manufacturing.