Research Assistant / Research Associate (Robotics & System Development)

Job Req ID: 2504

Employee Category: Research

Department: EPD Pillar

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical, Mechatronics, Robotics, Aerospace, Electrical Engineering, or related disciplines.

Key Responsibilities

• Systematically define user and system requirements, develop conceptual designs, and conduct feasibility assessments.
• Identify, design, and develop robotic subsystems, including locomotion and mobility systems, manipulation and adaptive gripping mechanisms, baggage handling and stacking systems, safety, and reliability systems.
• Develop CAD models, digital simulations, physics-based modelling, concept evaluation frameworks, and technical risk assessments.
• Design and integrate sensors, actuators, embedded controllers, power systems, and electromechanical subsystems/components.
• Develop robotic platforms, manipulators, adaptive end-effectors/grippers, conveyor-based transfer mechanisms, and automated stacking solutions.
• Perform engineering analyses, including structural, kinematic, dynamic, load-bearing, and performance evaluations.
• Develop prototypes, establish test/mock-up environments, prepare validation scenarios, and conduct subsystem- and system-level testing for design verification, troubleshooting, and performance assessment.
• Collaborate closely with stakeholders, end users, industry partners, and multidisciplinary research teams to support system integration and project delivery.

Preferred Skills

• Experience in the end-to-end robotics system development lifecycle, including requirements analysis, conceptual design, engineering development, prototyping, testing, and validation.
• Ability to lead or contribute to multidisciplinary teams
• Mechanical design and CAD modelling (e.g., SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo, NX)
• Robotics and automation systems development, including ROS/ROS2, robotic manipulators, adaptive grippers, autonomous mobile robots, and motion control systems.
• Experience in mechatronics, electromechanical system integration, actuator selection, power systems, embedded controllers, safety systems and hardware interfacing.
• Knowledge of sensor selection, integration, calibration, sensor fusion, and real-time data acquisition/processing frameworks.
• Experience with robot simulation, digital twin development, and physics-based modelling tools (NVIDIA Isaac Sim, Gazebo, MuJoCo, CoppeliaSim, Modelica), including AI-assisted design exploration and virtual validation.
• Ability to conduct system integration, verification and validation testing, technical demonstrations
• Familiarity with safety engineering, reliability assessment, risk analysis, and design-for-operation considerations for robotic systems is advantageous.

The successful candidate will contribute to the conceptual designs, development, integration, and validation of robotic and automation technologies. The role focuses on mechanical, mechatronic, electromechanical, sensing, and system integration aspects, supporting the development of novel robotic systems capable of handling, moving, and stacking various materials of different shapes, sizes, and weights within confined spaces.