Senior Robotics Quality Assurance Engineer

Role Overview
We're seeking an experienced Senior Robotics QA Engineer to lead our test automation initiatives for industrial robotic systems.

You'll be responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining comprehensive test frameworks that validate robot behaviour, performance, and reliability across various industrial scenarios.

This role combines deep technical expertise in robotics testing with hands-on experience in ROS-based systems and industrial automation.

Key Responsibilities
Test Framework Development :
Design and implement automated test suites for ROS-based industrial robotic systems using appropriate language choices :

• Python for rapid prototyping, iterative testing, and quick feature validation.
• C++ for high-performance testing, production validation, and resource-critical scenarios.

Develop comprehensive testing strategies covering unit, integration, and system-level testing.

Create and maintain test automation frameworks leveraging rostest with unittest (Python) and gtest (C++).

Implement continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines for robotics applications.

Optimize test execution for both development speed (Python) and production performance (C++).

Industrial Robotics Testing
Conduct thorough testing of industrial robot applications including pick-and-place, welding, painting, assembly, and material handling operations.

Validate robot safety systems, emergency stops, and fail-safe mechanisms.

Test robot performance under various environmental conditions and operational scenarios.

Perform regression testing to ensure software updates don't introduce new issues.

ROS Ecosystem Expertise
Implement testing protocols using the complete ROS testing stack :

• rostest for ROS node-level integration testing.
• unittest (Python) for library-level testing and rapid prototyping validation.
• gtest (C++) for high-performance library testing and production code validation.
• MoveIt2 for motion planning validation and manipulation testing.
• Navigation2 (Nav2) for autonomous navigation and path planning testing.
• RViz for visual testing, debugging, and validation of robot states and sensor data.
• Understand performance trade-offs : utilize Python for fast iteration during development and C++ for throughput-intensive testing scenarios.
• Develop integration tests for ROS nodes, services, and communication interfaces with emphasis on message rate performance and latency validation.
• Test robot perception, navigation, manipulation, and control systems across different performance requirements.
• Validate ROS message passing, parameter handling, and node lifecycle management in both development and production contexts.
• Test motion planning algorithms, trajectory execution, and collision detection systems using MoveIt2.
• Validate autonomous navigation capabilities, obstacle avoidance, and localization using Navigation2.

Simulation & Hardware Testing

• Design and execute tests in simulation environments (Gazebo, Isaac Sim, Unity).
• Coordinate hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing with physical robotic systems.
• Develop mock nodes and test fixtures for isolated component testing.
• Create realistic test scenarios that mirror real-world industrial environments.
• Utilize RViz for visual validation and debugging of simulation environments.

Quality Assurance & Reporting

• Establish quality metrics and KPIs for robotic system reliability.
• Generate comprehensive test reports and documentation.
• Collaborate with development teams to identify and resolve defects.

Maintain test case libraries and ensure test coverage across all system components.

Required Qualifications
Technical Skills :

• 3+ years of experience in robotics testing or quality assurance.
• Proficiency in ROS/ROS2 with hands-on experience in industrial robotics applications.
• Strong programming skills in Python (for rapid prototyping and iterative testing) and C++ (for high-performance, production-level testing).
• Deep understanding of ROS testing ecosystem :
• Python unittest framework for Python-based testing.
• Google Test (gtest) framework for C++ testing.
• rostest for ROS node-level integration testing (combining with unittest/gtest).

Motion Planning & Navigation

• Experience with MoveIt2 for robot arm manipulation and motion planning testing.
• Knowledge of Navigation2 (Nav2) for mobile robot navigation and autonomous movement validation.
• Understanding of SLAM, localization, and path planning algorithms.

Visualization & Debugging

• Proficiency with RViz for robot state visualization and debugging.
• Experience in visual validation of sensor data, transforms, and robot configurations.

Knowledge of simulation tools : Gazebo, Unity, NVIDIA Isaac Sim.

Familiarity with ROS-Industrial packages and industrial robot programming.

Testing Expertise

• Experience designing test strategies that leverage both Python (for fast iteration/prototyping) and C++ (for performance-critical validation).
• Understanding of when to use each language : Python for rapid testing and debugging, C++ for high-throughput message handling and resource-intensive scenarios.
• Knowledge of ROS performance testing methodologies, including message rate benchmarking and latency validation.
• Experience with test automation frameworks and CI/CD pipelines.
• Knowledge of behavior-driven development (BDD) and test-driven development (TDD).
• Understanding of various testing methodologies : unit, integration, system, regression, and performance testing.
• Experience with property-based testing and mutation testing approaches.
• Proficiency in test case design, test data management, and defect tracking.

Industrial Domain Knowledge

• Understanding of industrial automation processes and safety standards.
• Experience with industrial robot applications (manufacturing, assembly, material handling).
• Knowledge of robotics safety protocols and compliance requirements.
• Familiarity with PLC integration and industrial communication protocols.

Tools & Technologies

• Version control systems : Git, GitHub/GitLab.
• Build systems : catkin, ament, CMake.
• Containerization technologies : Docker, Kubernetes.
• Cloud platforms for testing : AWS RoboMaker, Azure, GCP.
• Test management and reporting tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Robotics, Computer Science, or related field.
• Experience with Robot Framework for test automation.
• Deep understanding of ROS performance characteristics and when to choose Python vs C++ for different testing scenarios.
• Knowledge of pyrostest and other advanced ROS testing libraries.
• Familiarity with launch_testing framework for ROS2.
• Experience with hardware-in-the-loop testing setups.
• Understanding of sensor integration and calibration testing.
• Knowledge of motion planning algorithms and their validation.
• Experience with performance benchmarking, message throughput testing, and latency optimization.
• Experience with energy efficiency testing and computational resource optimization.
• Familiarity with safety standards (ISO 10218, ISO/TS
• Experience with MoveIt Studio for advanced motion planning workflows.
• Knowledge of SLAM Toolbox for simultaneous localization and mapping.

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