---
title: 'Robotics Engineer, Motion Planning at Contoro Inc.'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-engineer-motion-planning-contoro-inc-austin-g1xqjkwb34zj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Robotics Engineer, Motion Planning at Contoro Inc.

- **Company:** Contoro Inc.
- **Location:** Austin, TX
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-07-02
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/contoro/0f41e38e-ee2b-4abb-b232-7ee72e37509f

## Job description

JOIN CONTORO ROBOTICS – REVOLUTIONIZING WAREHOUSE AUTOMATION WITH CUTTING-EDGE ROBOTICS

At Contoro Robotics, we're on a mission to solve labor challenges through advanced robotic solutions. Headquartered in Austin, TX, our fast-growing startup is transforming the supply chain industry with our flagship warehouse automation technology. Our team is made up of top-tier experts in robotics, AI, and logistics, working together to push the boundaries of automation.

We’re looking for talented and ambitious individuals to join us on this journey—helping shape the future of robotics while growing alongside a world-class team. If you're passionate about innovation, problem-solving, and making a real-world impact, we want to hear from you!

## ROBOTICS ENGINEER, MOTION PLANNING

Contoro Robotics is an Austin-based company building autonomous truck-unloading robots for warehouse operations. We deploy reliable, high-throughput robotic systems that handle heavy, unstructured freight in real logistics settings every day.

## THE ROLE

We are looking for a Robotics Engineer to help improve the reliability and performance of our robot's motion-planning stack on a live production fleet. A significant part of this role is hands-on production support: reproducing field issues, debugging them across motion planning, perception, and controls, and validating fixes on real hardware. You will work closely with our senior motion-planning and autonomy engineers, tuning and integrating motion planning as you grow your depth in the field.

## RESPONSIBILITIES

Production Debugging and Performance Support

- Investigate and help resolve production issues that affect cycle time, pick success, and operator intervention rate, working across motion planning, perception, and controls to find root cause.
- Reproduce field failures on real hardware, analyze logs and telemetry, and work with senior engineers to validate root cause and ship fixes.

Motion Planning Implementation and Integration

- Implement and tune planners within the MoveIt ecosystem for collision-free, kinematically feasible motion, with guidance from senior engineers.
- Integrate perception outputs (container frame, box poses, occupancy) into the planning scene, reasoning about collision objects such as container walls, ceiling, and neighboring boxes.
- Integrate path and trajectory generation with the control stack (MoveIt and ros_control), and measure cycle-time and throughput impact on hardware.

Hardware Validation

- Run controlled tests on the robot, compare before-and-after throughput, and quantify the impact of changes across diverse box and container configurations.
- Collaborate across autonomy, perception, controls, and robot software to deliver reliable end-to-end motion.

## QUALIFICATIONS

Experience: 1-3 years of professional experience (or equivalent research or internship experience) in motion planning, manipulator control, or robotics software, ideally with real-hardware exposure. Strong recent graduates with excellent fundamentals are encouraged to apply.

Education: Minimum B.S. in Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical/Electrical Engineering, or a related field.

Technical Skills:

- Proficient in C++ (modern standards), Python, and ROS 1 or ROS 2.
- Working knowledge of MoveIt and at least one motion planning approach (e.g., sampling-based planners such as RRT/RRT-Connect/PRM, or optimization-based planners such as CHOMP/TrajOpt).
- Solid grasp of manipulator kinematics - forward/inverse kinematics, collision checking, velocity and acceleration limits, and singularity and joint-limit awareness for 6/7-DOF arms.
- Strong debugging instincts and a willingness to dig into hard, ambiguous production issues.
- Good communication and eagerness to learn from senior engineers.

## NICE TO HAVE

- Hands-on experience with industrial manipulators (e.g., UR, KUKA) and real-time joint control.
- Familiarity with integrating perception inputs (point clouds, object poses, occupancy maps) into collision-aware planning.
- Exposure to time-parameterization tools (TOTG/TOPP-RA, Ruckig, jerk-limited/S-curve profiles).
- A controls or electrical background (motor limits, torque, current) useful for hardware-level debugging.
- Exposure to physics-based or kinematic simulation (Isaac Sim, Gazebo, MuJoCo, Bullet).

*Recruitment Agencies: Please do not contact our employees regarding this role. We partner with a select group of approved recruiting firms and do not accept unsolicited outreach or candidate submissions.

## About Contoro Inc.

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Contoro provides an AI-powered, human-in-the-loop robotics service to autonomously unload floor-loaded trailers and shipping containers for the logistics industry.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Austin, Texas, United States
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Youngmok "Mok" Yun (CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Robotics Engineering / Industrial Automation / Logistics
- **Target Customers**: B2B (warehouses, distribution centers, freight companies, and supply chain operators)
- **Mission**: To transform the future of work by delivering reliable, affordable, and safe robotics solutions, starting with the most physically demanding task in the supply chain – unloading non-palletized boxes from trucks and containers.

## Products & Services
- **Autonomous Container & Trailer Unloading Service**: A robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) offering where a mobile robot autonomously enters a trailer or container, uses a patented articulated gripper (DuoGrasp) and a Kuka industrial arm to unload mixed-SKU boxes (8" to 30" in dimension, up to 65 lbs), and places them onto an onboard conveyor belt. The service is charged per container unloaded, with no upfront capital expense.
- **Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) AI Platform**: A proprietary system that augments the robot's AI with remote human teleoperation for edge cases. This creates a continuous learning loop to improve AI reliability over time, targeting 99%+ success rates required for industrial use.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Total Funding**: USD 22.0 million across 4 rounds:
  - Pre-Seed (2022): USD 1.3M led by Village Global
  - Seed (June 2023): USD 7.2M led by SV Investment Corp
  - Corporate Round: Led by Coupang (amount undisclosed)
  - Series A (April 2025): USD 13.5M led by Doosan Investment
- **Key Metric**: 43 employees (as of mid-2025), with 83.3% year-over-year headcount growth
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Doosan Investment, SV Investment Corp, Coupang, Village Global
- **Growth Signals**: 83.3% YoY headcount growth; active commercial pilot program for qualified customers; presence in the US, South Korea, UAE, and India; 4 active job postings (up 300% YoY).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) Reliability**: Contoro's core moat is its ability to handle the "endless edge cases" of trailer unloading (diverse box sizes, containers, and layouts) by combining AI with remote human operators. This guarantees 99%+ reliability in real-world industrial environments, a bar that pure AI solutions struggle to meet.
- **Patented Hardware**: The "DuoGrasp" articulated gripper provides a two-sided box grasp for stability, allowing the robot to handle heavy, multi-dimensional boxes without damage.
- **No-Capex Business Model**: Charging per container unloaded (RaaS) removes the capital barrier for customers, making the service "affordable and predictable" and easy to scale up or down.
- **Rapid Deployment**: The robot's mobile base and built-in connectivity allow it to be moved from dock to dock via remote control or forklift, with "short deployment time & high reliability from day 1."

## Strategic Focus
- **Commercialization & Scaling**: The company is currently accepting qualified customers for a 12-week commercial pilot program, indicating a shift from R&D to market deployment.
- **Vertical Expansion**: While starting with trailer/container unloading, the company's platform is designed to tackle other physically demanding tasks in logistics and beyond.
- **AI Evolution**: Accelerating the AI learning loop through teleoperation data to reduce reliance on human operators over time.

## Why Work Here
- **Cutting-Edge Technology**: Work on real-world AI and robotics problems (perception, motion planning, manipulation) with industrial-grade hardware (Kuka arms).
- **High Growth Trajectory**: A Series A startup with 83% headcount growth and a clear path to commercial scale. The team is small (43 people), offering significant ownership and impact.
- **Culture & Values**: The company emphasizes **Reliability**, **Collaboration**, **Commitment**, **Independent Problem Solving**, and **Contribution**.
- **Benefits**:
  - 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance
  - 401k plan with matching
  - Flexible work hours
  - Pet-friendly office (Austin HQ)
  - Gym membership reimbursement
  - Continuous education support (book purchases, online courses, Lunch & Learns)
  - Employee recognition program with gift card rewards
  - Paid parental and marriage leave
- **Work Model**: Office-based in Austin, Texas with flexible hours. The engineering culture is hands-on, with a focus on building and deploying real hardware.
- **Global Exposure**: Offices in the US, South Korea, UAE, and India.

## Sources
1. [contoro.com](https://contoro.com/)
2. [contoro.com/about-us](https://contoro.com/about-us/)
3. [contoro.com/career](https://contoro.com/career/)
4. [linkedin.com/company/contoro-inc](https://www.linkedin.com/company/contoro-inc)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/contoro](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/contoro)

## Other roles at Contoro Inc.

- [Robotics Software Engineer, Autonomy Integration](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-software-engineer-autonomy-integration-contoro-inc-austin-1f0ny694pbcq) — Austin, TX
- [Business Development Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/business-development-manager-contoro-inc-buena-park-st7qdm7tjwmj) — Buena Park, CA
- [Office & People Operations Coordinator](https://feeny.ai/job/office-people-operations-coordinator-contoro-inc-austin-pd6k8ys93tjr) — Austin, TX
- [Robotics Test & Validation Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-test-validation-intern-contoro-inc-austin-nd5td8hgn463) — Austin, TX
- [Sr. Robotics Engineer, Perception](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-robotics-engineer-perception-contoro-inc-austin-w7btpsjbn1qa) — Austin, TX
- [Sr. Robotics Engineer, Motion Planning](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-robotics-engineer-motion-planning-contoro-inc-austin-k7sk7q61jxrg) — Austin, TX
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