Senior Mechanical Engineer
Apply on Pivot Robotics's site
The role --------
We're looking for someone who already knows this problem. Not robotics in the abstract — the specific, gnarly reality of putting an abrasive against a metal part with a robot and getting a good result, repeatably, in a production environment. If you've wrestled with wheel wear, force control, fixturing that survives a foundry, cycle times that actually close a business case, and the thousand small failures between a clean demo and a cell that runs a shift unattended, you're who we want.
You'll shape how we build cells, what tooling we standardize on, and how we solve finishing problems we haven't seen yet.
What you'll do --------------
- Own the mechanical design of our grinding and finishing cells (end effectors, tool changers, force compliance, fixturing, dust and safety systems).
- Solve real process problems: material removal, surface-finish targets, wheel and media selection, contact mechanics, cycle time.
- Get on the floor, and have your designs constantly tested in production.
- Set the standard for how we approach new parts and new customers mechanically.
What we're looking for ----------------------
- Direct experience with robotic grinding, deburring, or surface finishing. You've shipped or deeply worked on systems that drive a tool against a part.
- Real grasp of the process, not just the mechanism: abrasives, contact forces, material removal, finish quality.
- Comfort with force/torque control, compliance, and the sensing that makes finishing work (we run ATI sensors, Yaskawa and KUKA arms, Zivid vision).
- Someone who thrives in the field and on the floor, not only in CAD.
- The judgment to know what's good enough to ship and what isn't.
Nice to haves -------------
- Foundry, casting, or heavy-manufacturing exposure.
- Experience taking a cell from prototype to running-a-shift-unattended.
- Familiarity with industrial robot integration and machine safety systems.
About Pivot Robotics
AI for Robot Arms in Factories