Robotics Engineer: build and ship a bot
About the project
We are building Buddy, a plush companion device used in autism therapy sessions. Inside the plush: an NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano, a small microcontroller for lights, haptics and safety switches, a camera with a physical shutter, a mic array and speaker, and a Bluetooth link to a sensor bracelet. The device talks to our AWS cloud over MQTT with mutual TLS. The cloud, the apps and a device simulator already exist. We need the real device to take the simulator's place.
This is a privacy-first product for children. No continuous recording. A camera light wired to the camera's power so software cannot fake it. A physical microphone mute. You will build it that way.
What you will deliver in 40 days
Milestone 1, day 10. Parts list approved by us and ordered. A bring-up video: Jetson running JetPack with Docker, and the camera, mic, speaker, LEDs and haptics each working from a script. The microcontroller board talking to the Jetson over serial.
Milestone 2, day 25. The device agent (Python) running on the Jetson. It enrolls with our AWS IoT Core using a one-time code, connects with its own certificate, publishes status, telemetry and events in our event schema, receives policy updates, queues while offline and replays when back online.
Milestone 3, day 40. Everything assembled inside the plush shell. Signed container update with rollback. Our simulator test suite passes against your device with zero changes on our side. Wiring diagram, parts list with links, a setup and flashing guide, and a handover call. The prototype shipped to our US address with tracking.
What we give you
The architecture document. The event schema, the serial protocol spec and the MQTT topic layout. A dev AWS IoT environment with provisioning already set up. The simulator and its test suite, so you always know what done looks like. The plush shell, or approval to source one. Daily async check-ins and one video call a week.
Must have
- You have built at least one physical device that talked to a cloud over MQTT or similar, and it shipped. Photos or video in your proposal, not slides.
- Embedded Linux on NVIDIA Jetson (JetPack) or a close cousin, with Docker on ARM.
- Python for device software.
- Microcontroller firmware on ESP32-S3 or STM32, in C, C++ or MicroPython, including serial (UART) to a Linux host.
- BLE client work: connecting to a sensor and subscribing to its characteristics.
- Hands-on electronics: wiring, power, soldering, debugging with a multimeter.
- You can build the physical prototype and ship it to the US inside the deadline. If you are outside the US you handle the export paperwork and we reimburse shipping on receipt. The prototype is wall powered, so no battery shipping rules apply.
How to apply
Attach three things to your proposal. Proposals missing any of them will not be read.
- Your CV.
- A short Loom video (3 to 5 minutes). Walk us through one device you built with your own hands.
- Proof of a shipped product: photos or video of the real device
