Mechanical Engineer Intern at Foundation in San Francisco, CA

Summary: Foundation is developing the future of general purpose robotics with the goal to address the labor shortage. The Mechanical Engineer Intern will focus on designing and engineering custom components for humanoid robotic hands, contributing to the development of advanced robots in complex environments. Responsibilities: - Building dexterous hands and fingers for a humanoid is one of the hardest mechanical engineering problems in robotics — more than 20 degrees of freedom packed into the volume of a human hand, each joint needing to transmit force, survive impact, and move with precision — and we need mechanical engineering bandwidth dedicated entirely to that problem - Our finger and hand mechanisms are advancing rapidly and generating a constant stream of design iteration work — linkage geometry, tendon routing, pulley systems and tolerance stackups all need hands-on engineering attention that the core team cannot fully absorb - We are not buying hands off a shelf and integrating them — every component is custom-designed for our platform, which means this intern will touch real CAD, real fabrication, and real hardware from day one - The mechanical architecture of a robotic hand defines what the controls and sensor teams can even attempt — if the mechanism has backlash, compliance, or friction in the wrong places, no amount of software fixes it; this role is foundational - We are a small startup and we move fast — interns here are designing parts, running tolerancing analysis, and holding calipers on prototypes the same week - We want to build a team of mechanical engineers who understand humanoid hands from the ground up and we believe the best way to find those people is to train them early on the hardest version of the problem Required Qualifications: - Currently pursuing a BS, MS, or PhD in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related field — with solid coursework in classical mechanics, materials science, and structural engineering - Strong understanding of kinematics and mechanism design — you know how to analyze a four-bar linkage, compute a Jacobian for a serial chain, and think about workspace, singularities, and force transmission in a multi-joint finger - Familiarity with contact mechanics and tribology basics: contact stress, friction coefficients, wear mechanisms, relevant to designing fingertip surfaces and joint interfaces that survive millions of grasp cycles - Understanding of tolerance analysis and GD&T: you know what a tolerance stackup is, why it matters for a tendon-driven finger, and how to use worst-case or RSS methods to catch problems before fabrication - Proficient in SolidWorks, Fusion 360, CATIA, or equivalent parametric CAD: you can model complex multi-body assemblies, run motion studies, and manage configurations for design variants without creating a file management disaster - Familiarity with designing for lightweight structures: rib patterns, topology optimization concepts, material removal strategies that preserve stiffness while hitting mass targets - Basic FEA experience in SolidWorks Simulation, ANSYS, or similar: you can set up a static stress analysis on a finger link under load, interpret von Mises stress results, and identify where a part is over- or under-designed - Understanding of tendon-driven and linkage-driven actuation mechanisms as used in robotic hands: you know what capstans, routing guides, and differential mechanisms are and why they matter for compact high-DOF designs - Familiarity with actuator types relevant to robotic fingers: micro brushless DC motors and linear actuators, including the mechanical integration challenges each presents Preferred Qualifications: - Project presentation or portfolio that showcases relevant work Required Skills: Mechanical Engineering, Kinematics, Tolerance Analysis, SolidWorks Important Skills: Contact Mechanics, FEA Experience, Lightweight Structures, Actuator Types