Job Summary:
Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity in every facet of life. As a Software Engineer - Human Motion Data, you will build motion data pipelines and integrate diverse sources to generate accurate human motion trajectories for reinforcement learning applications.
Responsibilities:
• Design, build, and maintain end-to-end motion data pipelines, integrating diverse sources such as motion capture (mocap), teleoperation, and synthetic generation using diffusion models, animation and gaming engines, to support humanoid robot development.
• Implement and optimize kinematic and dynamic retargeting pipelines to accurately map human demonstrations onto the robot's specific physical constraints, mass distributions, and joint limits.
• Develop tools and scripts to process and clean raw human demonstration data, and apply state-of-the-art retargeting libraries (e.g., GMR, Omni-retarget) to synthesize and filter new behaviors.
• Leverage game engines (Unreal Engine or Unity) and physics simulators to build simulated environments for procedural motion generation and data augmentation.
• Generate high-volume, high-quality trajectory datasets required for training whole-body reinforcement learning policies.
• Write robust, automated pipelines to streamline data flow between human demonstration sources, generative motion models, game engines, and the RL training infrastructure.
• Collaborate closely with the Reinforcement Learning and Controls teams to iterate on data requirements, understand failure modes, and ensure the generated trajectories are physically viable on hardware.
Qualifications:
Required:
• Strong theoretical and practical understanding of robot kinematics (FK/IK), coordinate transformations, and rigid body dynamics
• Experience building or maintaining pipelines for spatial data, including motion capture, teleoperation tracking, or AI-driven motion generation
• Expertise in Python for scripting, data processing, and pipeline automation
• A results-oriented mindset with an eagerness to bridge the gap between human motion data and real-world robotic control algorithms
• High adaptability and a willingness to explore new tools, moving seamlessly across different layers of the robotics software stack as project needs evolve
• A BS or MS degree in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related highly technical field
• 2+ years of industry or applied research experience in robotics, motion planning, sim-to-real pipelines, or technical animation data generation
• A proven track record of processing large amounts of spatial or motion data to drive robotic or simulated systems
Preferred:
• Hands-on experience with state-of-the-art motion generation models and open-source retargeting libraries (e.g., GMR, Omni-retarget)
• Proficiency in C++ is highly valued to help integrate with our broader robotics software stack
• Familiarity and hands-on experience utilizing 3D game engines (Unreal Engine or Unity) or advanced physics simulators for robotics data generation or simulation
• Hardware (HW) experience, particularly working directly with physical robotic platforms
• A strong portfolio showcasing relevant robotics, sim-to-real, or motion generation projects
Company:
Apptronik is a robotics company that designs and builds humanoid robots for various real-world applications. Founded in 2016, the company is headquartered in Austin, USA, with a team of 51-200 employees. The company is currently Growth Stage.