Robotics Hardware Engineer

Orchard Robotics is a Series A startup backed by top VCs like Quiet Capital, Shine Capital, and General Catalyst. We're securing America’s food supply by building the AI farmer that automates our nation’s farms. We've raised over $25M in pursuit of our mission to help farmers farm more profitably and sustainably than ever before.

What We Do:

We start by collecting the most valuable data for farmers, telling them everything about what is growing on their millions of trees, across thousands of acres of farmland. We do this using advanced camera systems we build, that take pictures of every one of the billions of fruit in a farm. This data lives in our cloud data platform, FruitScope, that we've developed from the ground up to help farmers manage their crops with precision.

Farmers across the nation use our industry-leading software to look at their data, make critical decisions, and command farming operations on a daily basis. Our technology is used today across some of the largest farms in the nation.

The Role:

Here at Orchard Robotics, our AI-powered camera systems collect precision data about fruit on tens of millions of trees.

To do this, we've built a custom assembly of camera hardware (our FruitScope Vision System) that is responsible for collecting data in the most challenging, outdoor farm environments. Our cameras mount onto tractors, ATVs, and farm vehicles, and are driven through the fields day and night, rain or shine, to collect precise data about the billions of fruit on a farm.

We are looking for a Robotics Hardware Engineer who will utilize their extensive experience with camera sensors, embedded compute (NVIDIA Jetson), and deep knowledge in systems like GNSS and IMU to invent creative, pragmatic, and robust solutions to real-world computer vision problems.

If you're looking to help make a positive impact in the world by transforming the future of agriculture, come join us.

About the role: 

• As an early engineer, you'll receive generous equity compensation

• Full-time role at our San Francisco, CA office

• Flexible working hours

• Comprehensive Health, Vision, and Dental coverage, and we cover 100% of the premium

• We move fast, and sometimes this means staying late or working weekends 

• Our team is close-knit & highly driven, you’ll work directly with our CEO and entire team

• We’re deeply motivated by the impact we’re making – every new system deployed means much less food that goes to waste, and many more people who are fed.

What you’ll do:

• Prototype new iterations of our camera assemblies and hardware, including compute, cameras, GNSS, and other sensors in our FruitScope Vision Systems.

• Work with embedded compute (NVIDIA Jetson) to interface and synchronize camera sensors, IMU, GNSS, etc.

• Characterize the performance of sensors like GNSS in different operating environments.

• Ensure robustness of our systems across many different crops and real-world conditions.

• Create thorough test procedures to ensure the accuracy and reliability of our systems.

• Be a generalist, supporting different parts of our software and hardware if needed.

What makes you a good fit:

• Hands-on experience designing & developing robotics hardware from the ground up.

• Experience working with camera hardware, software, and image data processing in real-world, uncontrolled, outdoor environments.

• Deep experience with sensors like GNSS.

• Experience with embedded systems that require a high throughput of precise data collection, and tight synchronization between sensors.

• Practical experience in building robust, high-performing embedded hardware solutions.

• Familiarity with camera and sensor data protocols (such as GMSL2, MIPI).

• You aren't afraid of moving fast, and are comfortable with a lot of autonomy.

• You are comfortable working on all parts of the software & hardware stack.

Bonus Points:

• Experience synchronizing and fusing data from sensors like GNSS and IMU.

• Experience working with stereo vision.

• Knowledge of electrical engineering and PCB design.

• Knowledge of CAD and hardware design.

If you're looking to help make a positive impact in the world by building the future of farming, come join us!