Robotics Engineer II - Motion Planning

Company

ArcBest Technologies

Location

Fort Smith, AR - Technologies Lab

Workspace

On-Campus

Pay Type

Salary, Full-Time

Job ID

25513

Job Description

The Robotics Engineer II - Motion Planning develops and optimizes motion planning, behavioral planning, and real-time control algorithms for Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs). This position emphasizes multi-agent coordination, real-time decision-making, fleet-level optimization, and advanced fail-safe motion recovery strategies while ensuring kinematically and dynamically feasible trajectories. The Robotics Engineer II - Motion Planning also works on optimization frameworks such as CasADi, ACADOS, and Gurobi to enhance real-time planning efficiency, and is responsible for Behavior Tree (BT) design for high-level decision-making in AMRs.

Responsibilities

• Optimize multi-agent coordination and fleet-wide path planning for large-scale robotic deployments.
• Implement predictive motion planning using CasADi, ACADOS, and nonlinear solvers.
• Enhance costmap-based planning pipelines for adaptive and semantic-aware navigation.
• Develop fail-safe planning mechanisms, including trajectory re-evaluation, fallback policies, and redundancy-based safety.
• Improve local trajectory planning and smoothing techniques for high-speed AMRs.
• Develop complex Behavior Trees (BTs) for structured decision-making, optimizing modularity and scalability.
• Decompose complex behaviors into modular, reusable tree structures.
• Integrate real-time sensor feedback (LiDAR, cameras, IMU) into the planning pipeline.
• Conduct on-robot validation, testing, and field deployment to refine planning algorithms.
• Maintain CI/CD workflows, automated testing, and software versioning standards.
• Collaborate with perception, and system integration teams to enhance motion planning architectures.
• Other duties and projects, as assigned.
• Develop real-time motion planning algorithms (Hybrid A*, RRT*, Graph Search, Model Predictive Planning).
  
  

Requirements

• Master's Degree in Robotics, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field, required
• PhD in Robotics, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field, preferred
• 2 years experience in robotics motion planning, fleet navigation, or real-time control.
• Proficiency in Hybrid A, Dijkstra's, Graph Search, and predictive motion planning*. Upon Hire, required
• Experience with CasADi, ACADOS, Gurobi, or other optimization frameworks. Upon Hire, preferred
• Advanced proficiency in C /Python and ROS2-based navigation frameworks. Upon Hire, required
• Experience with costmap-based planners, multi-agent path planning, and AI-driven planning. Upon Hire, preferred
• Strong debugging skills, experience with on-robot testing, and adherence to software best practices (CI/CD, Git, automated testing). Upon Hire, required
• Strong mathematical foundation in optimization, graph theory, and control systems. Upon Hire, required
  
  

Other Details

• Generally, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm with occasional irregular hours depending on workload.
• This is a salary position paid biweekly.
  
  

About Us

ArcBest Technologies, ArcBest's tech and innovation team, provides custom-built solutions and leading-edge technologies that help our customers successfully navigate the complex supply chain landscape. The team is made up of highly engaged, creative tech and analytics professionals who create smart solutions that help keep the global supply chain moving.