Mechatronics Integration Engineer

Job Summary

We are seeking a Mechatronics Integration Engineer to join the Autonomy Team at KRUSH Labs in Eindhoven. This role will play a key part in designing, prototyping, and integrating the adaptive mechanisms — morphing airframes, articulated propulsion, and reconfigurable gimbal-mounted sensor heads — that enable KRUSH Labs’ next-generation autonomous platforms to operate in GPS-denied and perceptually challenging environments.

The Mechatronics Integration Engineer will work closely with controls, perception, and firmware engineers to translate multibody dynamics, aerodynamic behavior, and mass-distribution insights into flight-ready hardware, and to support online system identification across changing platform configurations.

This role combines hands-on mechanical design with cross-domain R&D, making it ideal for a mechatronics engineer who enjoys building novel hardware from first principles, working at the intersection of mechanics, aerodynamics, and control, and seeing their designs operate in the real world.

Key Responsibilities

• Analyze project requirements related to robotic mechanisms, gimbal/sensor mounts, and their interaction with the autonomy and control stack
• Design, prototype, and iterate on novel mechanical assemblies — including morphing airframes, variable-baseline stereo rigs, and multi-axis gimbal cameras — from concept through flight-ready hardware
• Develop full kinematic and multibody dynamic models of reconfigurable platforms, including time-varying inertia tensors, CG migration, and joint constraints
• Estimate, simulate, and support validate aerodynamic coefficients across morphing configurations (CFD, wind-tunnel, and flight-log identification)
• Implement online system identification pipelines that update mass, inertia, aerodynamic, and actuator parameters during flight and feed them into the control allocator and estimator
• Co-design mechanism behavior with flight-control engineers to ensure stable operation across the full configuration envelope and during transitions
• Produce CAD assemblies, tolerance stacks, and manufacturing drawings; drive prototyping through 3D printing, CNC machining, and composite layup
• Specify and integrate servos, BLDC actuators, encoders, IMUs, and load sensors; close the loop with embedded firmware and ROS2 nodes
• Build hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and bench rigs to characterize mechanisms before operation
• Document mechanical interface contracts, failure modes, and maintenance procedures
• Contribute to the development and validation of advanced R&D drone platforms

Requirements

Technical Qualifications Required

• MSc or PhD in Mechatronics, Aerospace, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent
• 3+ years of hands-on experience designing flight-relevant mechanical systems, with at least 1 year on UAV or robotic platforms
• Strong grasp of multibody dynamics and 6-DoF rigid-body kinematics; comfortable deriving and implementing equations of motion for articulated and morphing systems
• Experience with online system identification techniques (grey-box modeling, RLS, EKF/UKF parameter estimation) and their integration into flight control loops
• Working knowledge of PX4 or ArduPilot internals, uORB / MAVLink messaging, and control allocation for non-standard airframes
• Proficiency with CAD tools (SolidWorks, Fusion 360, or Onshape) and FEA for structural and modal analysis
• Mechanism design experience: bearings, linkages, gear trains, compliant mechanisms, cable-driven actuation
• Familiarity with actuator selection and characterization (servos, BLDC, brushed DC, stepper) and the associated power electronics
• Experience integrating IMUs, encoders, and force/torque sensors, including bias, scale, and misalignment calibration
• Comfortable in a Linux/ROS2 environment; able to read and write C++ and Python for sensor interfacing and data analysis
• Practical prototyping skills: 3D printing (FDM/SLA), CNC, composites, hand-assembly to flight-grade tolerances

Skills & Abilities Required

• Strong analytical skills and a bias toward first-principles reasoning before simulation or build
• Ability to translate between mechanical, aerodynamic, and control domains and communicate trade-offs to each
• Effective verbal and written communication for cross-functional collaboration with controls, perception, and firmware engineers
• Ability to work independently and within a team using tools like Jira and Confluence
• Patience and clarity in debugging mechanical, electrical, and software interactions on real hardware

Nice to Have

• Experience with morphing aircraft, tilt-rotor, tilt-wing, or other reconfigurable UAV concepts
• Background in gimbal design, image stabilization, or variable-baseline stereo / structured-light rigs
• Familiarity with VIO/SLAM pipelines and how mechanism state (gimbal pose, arm extension) is propagated to perception
• Familiarity with HIL frameworks (Gazebo, Isaac Sim, jMAVSim) for closed-loop mechanism testing
• Publications or open-source contributions in robotics, UAV design, or system identification

Why Join KRUSH Labs?

• Working alongside top talent brings your expertise to a new height. Our Engineers are passionate researchers and PhD scientists who are driven to bring real impact.
• We build solutions for specific needs. We work to address existing hardware specific challenges of a client to ensure they receive practical, high-performance solutions.