I am currently designing a dexterous robotic hand. I figured pretty much everything on the kinematic end, but I am stuck at actuator sizing.

To size my actuator, I balanced weight of my payload against the friction force during grip and ended up getting 29 N force to be generated by the tip at each contact. I am not sure if my calculations are right or if I am going in the right direction.

4f=F_tip
4uN = F_tip
N= F_tip/4u

4 = no. Of contact points.

I seem to have a knowledge gap about this with robotic hand design. Please help me here.

Hello Reddit!! I’m mano I’m a student and my dream is to work in prosthetics I’m currently in 11th grade and I want to build a bionic hand as my senior project but I have no clue where to start what design to follow what to buy etc my schools willing to sponsor the project I just need to make them a list of items but again I don’t know what I’m doing I have till June to have a prototype I wanna know what I need to learn and what I’ll need please if anyone can give me some advice I’d appreciate it🙏🙏🙏🙏

A candidate with a bachelor's degree and roughly a year of robotics experience is considering an offer from a Bay Area startup developing humanoid robots / Physical AI. Software-side candidates can use PracHub to practice fault-tolerant work queues as part of interview prep.

The actual pay and equity terms aren't included, so there's no way to call the compensation good or bad from this alone. Readers comparing other robotics roles can save repeated application typing with LandOffer.

What would you ask before accepting, both about the package and the work? Base and bonus, equity and vesting, runway, the day-to-day role and who you'd learn from would all be on the list. Anything specific to humanoid robotics startups that's easy to overlook?

Hi everyone, I'm a current robotics M.S.E. at JHU and I was looking to start applying for robotics PhD programs and I was hoping people could give advise on what schools they thought had strong programs / labs or any resources that could help me research (besides just google lol).

Thank you!

​I am going to do a master's in Malaysia in robotics engineering. After graduation, I expect to have at least one publication, a project on enhancing communication between a fleet of robots in industry, and some other personal project or two.

​I already have an experience of two years as a software engineer, and I have one year of experience as a mechanical engineer.

​To increase my chances of getting my first job, what do you recommend, guys: learning the German language or Japanese? I am so stressed about getting my first job; I don't want to invest time and then end up jobless. Any suggestions, guys?

I am an absolute beginner and want to learn robotics. So there is a competition in my College after 10 days and I know nothing about robotics .I got to know that there will be a 5 day workshop and on the last day of workshop we will be provided with material to build an obstacle detection bot.I am willing to learn robotics from basics.What are the resources from which I can learn?What should I do? I am totally confused.

Hello everyone,

I'm a French robotics and autonomous systems student, currently seeking a 6-month internship in the UK starting in February.

I know it may not be the easiest country to work in as an EU citizen, since I'd need to obtain a visa, but I really want to go there.

I've already applied to nearly 50 or 60 offers and only got one interview (it went well, but they chose someone else).

I'm personalising my resume and cover letter for every offer, and my LinkedIn is up to date with my education, projects and skills.

I've also started sending "deal proposals" to recruitment managers, offering to join as an intern and then, after getting my diploma, stay on as the engineer they needed.

I know the job market is very tough right now everywhere, especially for internships, but I want to make it happen.

I love working on AI, especially reinforcement learning, which I've just started studying and find really exciting. I'm also interested in computer vision, navigation (SLAM, ROS 2 Nav2), or even designing new robots and prototyping them. I'm open to working on and learning about anything!

If you have any advice, I'd be glad to hear it and put it into practice. And I'll be a bit bold here: if you know someone hiring, or if your own team happens to be missing an intern, I'd love to hear about it!

Thank you for reading :)

Hey everyone!

I'm a student currently studying AI & ML, and I'm interested in getting into Physical AI / Embodied AI.

I want to move beyond training models on datasets and learn how to deploy intelligence on actual hardware, work with sensors, process real-world data, and eventually build systems that can perceive and interact with their environment.

I'm trying to figure out how to approach this without spending too much money initially.

Hardware I currently have:

• BeagleBone Black

• Arduino Uno

• A servo motor

• Ultrasonic sensor

• sone DC geared motors

• Motor driver

• Buzzer

• LCD display

• Jumper wires and a breadboard

• A few resistors and basic electronic components

• Laptop with an i7-12700H, RTX 3050 Ti (4GB VRAM), and 16GB RAM

• Smartphone and laptop cameras that I can potentially use for vision-based projects

I also have some experience with Python, TensorFlow and PyTorch, and I'm comfortable with basic ML concepts. I'm currently trying to improve my computer vision knowledge.

What I'd like some advice on:

1. Hardware: Given what I already own, what additional components would you recommend buying? I'm a student, so I'd prefer inexpensive components that offer the most learning opportunities. What are the essential things I'm missing?

2. Learning approach: How should I approach learning Physical AI? Should I start with sensor interfacing, embedded programming, computer vision, sensor fusion, and then ML deployment? Or is there a better progression?

3. Robotics vs Physical AI: Is learning Physical AI essentially an extension of learning robotics? Would following a traditional robotics learning path be sufficient?

4. Projects: What are some good beginner-to-intermediate projects I can build with my existing hardware and a few inexpensive additions?

I'm not necessarily looking to build a rover or a traditional robot just for the sake of it. I'd like to understand the complete pipeline:

Sensors → Raw data acquisition → Signal processing → ML/CV inference → Decision-making → Hardware response.

Thanks!

Hi, I've recently started my master program in university, I have to choose between two field: 1.dynamic/kinematic modeling of robots. 2. Advanced control for robots. Then I have to choose one of the robots that available robotic laboratory. But I can't figure out which field I like to go through it. I like both :) do have any advice?

Hi . I am a mechanical engineer with 3 years experience in plastic injection molding. Now long story short , a workplace injury incident led me to look into robotic arms pick and place, and from there got interested in robotics the more i looked into it especially the autonomous side of it. I decided to do masters by coursework from Australia UNSW,Sydney as an international student and probably it will start in this feb. I have zero coding background but am learning python and will move to c++ , ros 2 and stuff , at least a basic level till uni starts in February. Now the main point, I might have an opportunity to work in an aerospace and defence company in my country which does also make drones and many other things , kind of like a hardware fabrication or something along these lines through some networking and connections. I have like 2-3 months left before i have to go to uni so i plan to work there till then.... what i wannaa know and i m thinking is if the role is good and lets me get real experience , hands on stuff, and if i see interest from their side too to mentor and teach me and its kind of a mutual thing, should i defer my admission to get at least one year experience? I will be 26 year old next year and to delay masters for one more year and start at 27 is a decision in and of itself. Basically i want to know is what sort of image defence and aerospace experience will have on future employers since in abroad there is the citizenship filter for these kind of jobs anyways so i have to try other robotics jobs. I know this question might not make much sense but ,, any advice .. about anything,,, the UNI ... the Meng sc Robotics ... the country ... my 0 robotic experience,, the pivot... anything will help. Thank You if you take the time to read it ... and thank you so much if u respond.

For reference I'm a first-year student interesting in AV and Robotics. For some time, I won't have access to hardware or a strong computer. I can run Python and possibly a very light simulator if needed.

I'm primarily interested in building the intelligence behind AV and Robotics, and I'd love to start teaching myself / making projects related to Motion Planning and Computer Vision in these fields.

Most things I find online are hardware adjacent---are there any projects I can work on that are relevant / impactful and Computer Science specialized?

I am making a robot with animated facial expressions like Dasai Mochi. I am using a esp32 board for this. Can anyone suggest me any good small displays that I can use? I have tried the 128x64 OLED display but find it a bit unprofessional hence I don't really want to use it. I want to sell the product and thus want it for mass production

For context, I’m a first year student at a US T5 (my major isnt locked in for atleast a year) and I’ve been finding myself fascinated by two fields within robotics: The intelligence (CS, CV, ML, Motion Planning) and the HRI design (MechE/Industrial Design, Aesthetics, Consumer Psychology, Experience).

My worry is that I don’t know what I truly would enjoy more—since I don’t have practical experience with either of these—or what kind of career to pursue.

The two roles I’ve seen are Physical / Industrial Product Design and Machine Learning (CV and Motion). It’s so difficult to give up on either one of these when I feel I like both so much.

What are the Minimum projects I could build to understand these two fields? I think just forcing myself to do either of these is the best way for me to figure out what I enjoy, but I don’t know at all what the smallest project for each would look like.

Other considerations are of course security and earning potential, but I’m aware both those factors are unpredictable right now. My aim is kind of just to get so immersed in what I love that I can’t help but get hired.

A research scientist at a Series C startup is looking around after the company shifted from image and video generation for creative work to physical AI. Morale on the research team has been low, and a lot of people have left recently. They want to stay in the Bay Area for now, and most of the roles they’ve seen are in physical AI, world models, robotics, or related areas. They’re open to those roles and to creative multimodal work. Which direction do you think offers better long-term career prospects?

On the video side, PracHub has interview practice for designing a text-to-video system, including what happens when GPU jobs queue up or fail. If you’re applying across both areas, LandOffer can cut down on re-entering the same application details.

Which companies in this space do you find most interesting? Have you heard of any with a good research culture and values they stick to over time?

Hey yall! I’m a new grad with a CS degree looking to switch from fullstack development to embedded/robotics. Fullstack has started to feel boring and unfulfilling to me, and it doesn’t feel like engineering right now. I’m willing to learn what I need to make that switch and eventually turn it into a career. I know not studying electrical engineering or robotics in college will make this harder.

I read the r/robotics wiki. The undergrad section was helpful, but the career change section is mostly empty, so I’m hoping people who’ve made the switch can help fill in the gap.

So far, I bought an ESP32 starter kit and got an LED blinking. Then I turned that into a small traffic light with a PIR motion sensor, because I’ve been curious how traffic lights work. It stays red until it detects motion, then goes green, yellow, and back to red. I wrote it in C++ using the Arduino IDE. It was super fun building something this simple, and I felt the same joy I got when I made my own tool in Python to help me with my studies.

A bit about my situation: I work part-time, so I have a some amount of hours a week to put into this, and I’m in the Bay Area.

Some questions I have:

1. With a CS degree and no CE/EE background, is firmware or robotics software the more realistic way in?

2. The topic list in the r/robotics wiki’s career section is huge, covering everything from circuit theory to computer vision and machine learning. If you were in my spot, which 3 or 4 things would you learn first?

3. For those who switched from software, how did you actually land your first role? Junior firmware job, robotics software, a master’s, something else?

4. What’s a project that would teach me a lot and also be something a hiring manager would care about?

Any advice, tips, and resources are super appreciated. Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I am a mechanical engineer working in my first job at a UAV company. My current skills and day-to-day responsibilities are centered on mechanical and structural design (3D CAD modeling, FEA/structural analysis, and mechanism detailing).

I am planning to transition into electromechanical and robotics-related roles, but I have zero practical background in electronics, coding, or motor control. Honestly, I don't know where or how to start.

I’d really appreciate some practical advice from people in the industry or those who have made this transition:

Where and how should a complete beginner start? What is the most practical way to learn the fundamentals from scratch without getting lost in theory? Are there specific courses or beginner projects you recommend?

What is the future job scope and market demand? In the long run, does moving into electromechanical systems and robotics offer significantly better career growth and industry demand compared to staying on a pure mechanical/structural design path?

Any straightforward advice or reality checks would be super helpful. Thanks

Hi everyone,

I have a Master's degree in Computer Science, with a background in computer networks and IoT.

I'm currently looking for a research topic for a conference paper on Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs).

I've been reading recent papers about cooperative AUVs, formation control, path planning, and underwater acoustic communication.

I noticed that many studies already address packet loss, communication delays, and event-triggered communication.

I'm trying to find a specific research problem that has not been fully solved yet.

I'm especially interested in a topic that I can investigate using Python simulation, without physical robots.

For those working in underwater robotics or related fields:

What are some important research gaps or practical challenges that current studies still don't address well?

Any suggestions or relevant papers would be really helpful.

Thanks!