Fleet Robotics Inc.

Compensation

Full Description

Sensor Fusion, Localization, and Mapping Engineer Job Highlights Fleet Robotics is a green-tech, marine robotics company developing an underwater robot to inspect and maintain ship hulls. At Fleet, we are looking for an experienced roboticist to contribute to the development of novel path-planning algorithms that are robust to the dynamic and unpredictable environments present on ship hulls. Challenges include dealing with harsh and irregular environmental conditions, utilizing limited or varying sensor data, and lack of communication and near-zero visibility while underwater. The ideal candidate has demonstrated the ability to develop custom sensor fusion, localization, and mapping algorithms tailored for dealing with the aforementioned challenges. As one of the company’s early employees, this role offers the ability to make significant contributions to a novel and meaningful environmental application working with a small, close-knit, and fast-paced team. Meaningful Work We are tackling a thousand-year-old problem: the growth of biofouling on ships. Biofouling is the growth of microorganisms, algae, barnacles, and larger ocean organisms on the ship’s hull. As a ship delivers goods around the world, the growth of these organisms significantly increases the drag forces on the hull and in doing so, significantly increases fuel consumption. Ships are the world’s largest consumers of carbon-heavy fuels (called bunker fuels). Conventionally, the commercial shipping industry handles biofouling in two ways: preventatively, by coating the ship’s hull in a highly toxic paint that discourages growth, and reactively, by stopping operations every 6-months or so to have divers scrape off years of fouling (along with some toxic paint). This is akin to deciding never to brush your teeth because you go to the dentist every five years. There is a better way. Our small autonomous robots live on the side of a ship’s hull for years, gently removing the earliest stage of biofouling on a regular basis. This early-stage biofouling is easy-to-remove slime. The technical challenge lies in having a robot that can withstand harsh marine environments, adhere to the ship hull while it is underway, and clean entirely autonomously. By removing slime often and early, we prevent the growth of macrofouling, significantly reduce fuel consumption, and prevent the spread of invasive species from port to port. Our customers enjoy reduced operating costs, improved environmental compliance, and enhanced monitoring of vessel conditions, all without imposing any extra responsibilities on the crew. Your Role You will significantly contribute to the development, testing, and optimization of custom sensor fusion localization, and state estimation solutions. Our robots live on the side of ship hulls and must be able to accurately maneuver both above and below water in order to effectively fight biofouling. To enable efficient biofouling removal, the robots must use detailed path planning to ensure total ship coverage. In turn, our path-planning algorithms depend on accurate pose estimation which comes from specialized localization and sensor fusion implementations specific to our set of sensors and environment. The side of a ship presents unique challenges that require novel localization solutions, including dealing with harsh and irregular environmental conditions, limited visibility, lack of discernible features, and low to no communication while the robot is submerged. This challenging but rewarding environment creates an opportunity where creative problem-solving and critical thinking are crucial to success. Responsibilities Develop novel localization capabilities for an underwater walking robot with unique sensing capabilities. Integrate localization algorithms on physical robot platforms. Optimize localization performance by tuning algorithm parameters and sensor noise models. Lead testing, evaluation, and analysis efforts, including simulation, in-lab, and in-field testing. Required Skills Experience with robotics algorithms, particularly state estimation techniques. Understanding of the pros and cons of various localization methods (such as Kalman filters, particle filters, or factor graphs), appropriate use cases for different algorithms, and techniques for tuning parameters to improve localization performance. Experience with software development in C++ and/or Python. Excited to be developing a novel robotic platform. Bonus Skills Experience with electronics and sensor integration. Experience with in-field robot testing. Familiarity with robot path planning, graph search, and/or mapping algorithms. Experience working with Eigen and/or GTSAM in C++. Experience working with IMU/accelerometer/gyroscope sensors. Background in computer vision and computational geometry. Familiarity with unit testing framework(s) for Python and/or C++. Familiarity with robotics simulators such as MuJoCo, and/or experience setting up and running large-scale simulation evaluations in such environments. About Fleet Robotics Fleet Robotics is the leader in autonomous ship/hull grooming robots. With an emphasis on reliable operation, predictable performance, and autonomous decision making, we offer our customers improved operational efficiency, enhanced environmental compliance, and clear measurements of vessel condition. We have a core team of engineers who have worked across industries, including robotics, aerospace, and marine systems. We are a passionate team that cares deeply about solving significant environmental and ocean-based problems with cutting-edge robotics. Everyone’s background is different. We are committed to fostering an environment with diverse experiences, ideas, and backgrounds. We are deliberate and self-reflective about the kind of team culture that we are building, seeking engineers who are not only strong in their own aptitudes but who care deeply about supporting each other's growth. If you are excited by the ability to develop novel robots and solve challenges, then we encourage you to apply.