--- title: 'Robotics Hardware Engineer at Yondu AI' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-hardware-engineer-yondu-ai-gardena-pyqe3jdnrajk' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-17' --- # Robotics Hardware Engineer at Yondu AI - **Company:** Yondu AI - **Location:** Gardena, CA - **Compensation:** $100k–$200k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-10-07 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17 - **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/yondu-ai/am9icG9zdDq3stD51qS0jRbjUBenubRo ## Job description ## Requirements/Qualifications - Has a degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics Engineering, or a related field. - Has a citizenship/does not require any immigration or visa assistance. - Full time role ## What You’ll Do - Design and integrate electrical and mechanical systems. - Create PCBs for humanoid robots. - Place cutting edge robots in real deployments. - Create new robot form factors for various applications - Rapidly prototype, and iterate based on changing demands. ## What We’re Looking For - Experience with electromechanical systems or robotics. - Excellent knowledge of electrical engineering. - Experience with hand tools and disassembly, assembly, and documentation of systems. - Experience with Linux based operating systems (ROS 2 especially). - Experience with computer assembly and bandwidth architecture (USB and PCIE standards). - Skills in CAD and embedded systems. - Strong hands-on engineering and troubleshooting ability for both electrical and mechanical systems. - Experience with 3D CAD software. - Experience with ECAD software. - Familiarity with typical electronics tools such as oscilloscopes and logic analyzers. - Experience with typical humanoid systems (BLDC actuators, CANbus, lithium based batteries). - Understanding of industrial requirements (IP Rating, MTBF). - Experience with component sourcing and dealing with vendors. - Familiarity with GD&T ## Why This Role - Direct impact on company results. - Creating cutting edge robots for real deployments. ## About Yondu AI ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Yondu provides drop-in, general-purpose humanoid robots for 3PL warehouses to automate high-turnover labor with a fast, ROI-positive, brownfield deployment. - **Entity Type**: Private (seed stage, Y Combinator W24) - **Headquarters**: Gardena, California, USA - **Founded**: 2023 (Dec 2023 founded at MIT, operational by 2024) - **Founders**: Michael Chen (CEO) and Tahmid Jamal (CTO) ## Core Business - Primary industry: Warehouse automation, logistics robotics, embodied AI. - Target customers: Mid-sized 3PL (third-party logistics) warehouses (B2B, SMB to enterprise). - Mission: Revolutionizing physical labor by building the robot workforce of the future, empowering businesses to lower operating costs, eliminate turnover, and increase efficiency. ## Products & Services - **Humanoid Robots + Teleoperation System (ULTRON)**: A low-latency remote teleoperation system that puts robots to work immediately in customer operations, collecting data for autonomy. - **Warehouse Management Software (WMS) Integration**: Routes orders from the warehouse WMS to Yondu’s platform, instructing robots where to go and what to pick. - **Autonomy Stack (YGM – Yondu General Manipulation)**: A manipulation policy that gradually takes over picking and placing tasks, learning from teleoperation data to drive toward full autonomy. - **Brownfield Bin-Picking Solution**: The first fully automated brownfield bin-picking system that works within existing warehouse layouts without costly infrastructure changes. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: Total funding raised – seed round closed in May 2024 after YC W24 cohort; amount undisclosed. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Y Combinator; design partnership and pilot contract with Shipbots (a major West Coast 3PL). - **Growth Signals**: Founded Dec 2023 at MIT; participated in PROD 3.0 and YC W24 cohorts; opened HQ in Gardena, CA (June 2025); demonstrated comprehensive teleoperated bin-picking system (Sep 2025); landed first pilot contract; headcount growing with multiple founding engineers and robot operators. ## Competitive Advantages - **Brownfield-first approach**: No need for new infrastructure or retrofits – robots adapt to existing warehouse layouts and processes. - **Affordable price point**: Mid-sized warehouses can afford automation; claims to cut labor costs by up to 75%. - **Data flywheel**: Teleoperation (ULTRON) enables immediate value while collecting real-world data to train autonomy (YGM), creating a self-improving system. - **Full-stack robotics**: In-house teleoperation, WMS integration, and manipulation stack – a platform-application model scalable to other tasks (decanting, replenishment, packing). ## Strategic Focus - Current priorities include scaling the Shipbots partnership, proving ROI in live warehouse operations, expanding the robot’s task repertoire beyond bin-picking, and building a foundation model for general-purpose manipulation. - Long-term vision: Become the platform for any brownfield robotics automation, enabling other companies to automate any task with any robot. ## Why Work Here - **Team & Culture**: Led by two MIT co-founders; strong research talent (MIT CSAIL Postdoc, Georgia Tech PhD, industry veterans in RL/teleoperation). Culture emphasizes continuous learning, keeping up with SOTA research, and tackling one of the hardest problems in robot learning. - **Compensation & Benefits**: 401(k) matching (100% of first 3%, 50% of next 2%); comprehensive medical/dental (100% premiums covered for employee and dependents); unlimited PTO plus dedicated sick leave. - **Work Environment**: Based in Los Angeles (Gardena) – hands-on, in-person collaboration with local customers; roles include robotics software, mechatronics, and business development. - **Growth Opportunity**: Early-stage startup with a chance to shape the product and technology from the ground up, working on real-world embodied AI deployments. ## Sources 1. [yondu.ai](https://www.yondu.ai/) 2. [yondu.ai/about](https://www.yondu.ai/about) 3. [yondu.ai/careers](https://www.yondu.ai/careers) 4. [ycombinator.com/companies/yondu](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/yondu) 5. [ycombinator.com/companies/yondu/jobs](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/yondu/jobs) ## Other roles at Yondu AI - [Robot SWE](https://feeny.ai/job/robot-swe-yondu-ai-gardena-1kny3bb90xnh) — Gardena, CA - [Physical AI Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/physical-ai-infrastructure-engineer-yondu-ai-gardena-146q4rtdhntj) — Gardena, CA - [Summer Robotics Hardware Intern (Copy)](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-robotics-hardware-intern-copy-yondu-ai-gardena-rtmmqv94a38g) — Gardena, CA - [Summer Robotics Hardware Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/summer-robotics-hardware-intern-yondu-ai-gardena-xym7b8rebrb4) — Gardena, CA - [Founding Business Development Representative, Robotics](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-business-development-representative-robotics-yondu-ai-gardena-nn7kxtde6ef8) — Gardena, CA - [Senior Robotics Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-robotics-engineer-yondu-ai-gardena-r9phjzqqd7sg) — Gardena, CA - [Robotics Hardware Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/robotics-hardware-engineer-sensmore-potsdam-qztshxr9tfvc) — Potsdam, Germany