Join Way of Water, a funded field-robotics project at ETH Zurich (Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, Research D'Andrea). This is a project employee (staff) role focused on delivering engineering work for the life of the project. The team builds autonomous surface robots that operate outdoors, on real water, as a coordinated fleet. The role offers ownership and the opportunity to shape how robots move, sense, and recover in challenging environments. Compensation is competitive for a funded project role and depends on experience. The position is 100% fixed-term project staff (~18 months).
Tasks
- Own the behaviour of physical robots: how they move, hold intent, coordinate, and fail gracefully.
- Turn ideas into working software on real hardware, then harden it with experiments you help design and run.
- Work at the seams with sensors, actuators, mechanical limits, and electrical realities.
- Close loops from field evidence back into better behaviour.
- Make testing and commissioning repeatable for the team, not a one-off exercise.
- Share learnings through clear notes, teachable setups, and enable students and colleagues to build on your work.
Requirements
- About 0–5 years of hands-on experience after your degree; internships, thesis projects, Focus projects, and paid project work count.
- Background in robotics, control, mechanical or electrical engineering, computer science, or equivalent practice.
- Depth in dynamics, estimation, or control of physical systems.
- Evidence of shipped behaviour on real robots or comparable cyber-physical systems, not only simulation.
- Hands-on work is required: write, run, and debug software on real hardware yourself (bench bring-up, field trials, logs, and measurements).
- Comfort writing and debugging software that interfaces with hardware (e.g., C/C++, Python, or similar).
- Judgement under incomplete information: investigate, measure, decide, and iterate.
- Appetite for outdoor and on-water testing; field days are part of the job, including Lake Zürich and partner sites.
- Independent working style and documentation habits that help a small team scale.
- Experience with ROS/ROS 2, embedded or real-time constraints, multi-robot systems, or published technical work is welcome.
Benefits
- Competitive compensation for a funded project role, depending on experience.
- Opportunity to start with a control and autonomy focus and grow into broader robotics craft and ownership.
- Work naturally expands into estimation, planning interfaces, system integration, field campaigns, and safety-minded verification.
- Potential opportunity to join a planned spin-off early if mutually fit after or alongside project delivery.
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Über uns
Das Team
Work closely with established entrepreneurs, world-class scientists, and engineers who have built a billion-dollar company, sent hardware to the International Space Station, and created live performance-art installations at the Venice Biennale. Mechanical and electronics colleagues own their layers, and you learn enough of theirs to integrate well.