Summer Mechatronics Engineering Internship (Robotics)

Spend your summer putting robots together and finding out what makes them work. You’ll join our integration team to build, test and troubleshoot the Ferret, along with the electronics, test rigs and supporting systems that help get it into the field.

About Puralink

There’s an entire world beneath your feet. We’re building the robots to explore it.

Pipes carry the water we drink, keep cities running and support everything from energy production to data centres. They’re essential, often difficult to access, and surprisingly poorly understood. We’re changing that.

Puralink is building the operating system for the world’s pipes. Our autonomous robot, the Ferret, gets inside infrastructure to inspect and map it. Our software platform, PuralinkOS, turns what it finds into intelligence that helps customers understand their assets and make better decisions.

Getting a robot ready for the real world takes mechanical parts, electronics and software working together. It also takes the equipment around it: test fixtures, wiring, control interfaces and deployment hardware.

Our integration team brings those pieces together. At our Mascot HQ, you’ll help turn components and prototypes into complete systems we can build, test and use.

The role

This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys working across engineering disciplines. You might spend the morning assembling a robot, the afternoon wiring a test rig and the next day tracking down why a motor isn’t behaving as expected.

You’ll help build and test robots, PCBs and auxiliary systems, working closely with mechanical, electrical and software engineers. You’ll learn how to check individual components, connect them into a system and investigate what happens when they don’t quite cooperate.

Expect time at the bench, plenty of practical problem-solving and opportunities to take ownership of builds and experiments as your confidence grows.

What you’ll do

• Build the Ferret. Help assemble robot hardware, bringing together mechanical components, electronics, wiring and sensors.
• Work on the electronics. Support PCB assembly, soldering, rework and board testing with guidance from our electrical engineers.
• Build the tools behind the robot. Help design and assemble test rigs, fixtures and auxiliary systems for development and deployment.
• Connect everything up. Prepare cables, wire components and check connections so systems are ready for testing.
• Put hardware through its paces. Run component and integrated system tests, record results and help check that builds perform as intended.
• Track down problems. Work with the team to investigate faults across mechanical, electrical and software interfaces.
• Make the next build better. Document assembly steps, update checklists and feed practical improvements back to the engineers designing the hardware.

What success looks like

You’ve helped assemble and test working robot hardware, built or improved a useful test setup and contributed to solving a few stubborn integration problems.

Your test results are clear, your builds are well documented and the next person can pick up where you left off. You’re more confident using tools, checking your work and narrowing down the cause of a fault.

You can look at a working system and explain how its parts fit together, because you helped put them there.

What we’re looking for

You’re studying Mechatronics, Robotics, Mechanical or Electrical Engineering, or a related field, and you enjoy making physical things work.

You’ll bring:

• A basic understanding of mechanical and electrical systems
• An interest in assembling, wiring and testing hardware
• A methodical approach to troubleshooting and checking your work
• Care and attention to detail when using tools, handling components and recording results
• Initiative to get started and judgement to ask for help when needed
• A willingness to move between disciplines and learn unfamiliar things

University projects, robotics clubs, Formula SAE and personal builds all count. We’d love to hear about something you’ve assembled, repaired or persuaded to work.

Nice to have

• Soldering experience, including PCB assembly or rework
• Familiarity with multimeters, bench power supplies or oscilloscopes
• Experience with CAD, 3D printing or building simple fixtures
• Basic programming skills for test scripts or microcontrollers
• Experience with motors, sensors, cable assemblies or embedded systems

You don’t need to tick every box. We’re interested in how you approach practical problems and what you’re keen to learn.

Why spend your summer at Puralink?

Work on the whole robot. See how mechanical design, electronics and software come together, and what it takes to make them work reliably.

Build something useful. Contribute to robots, test equipment and supporting hardware that the team will use.

Learn alongside experienced engineers. Get practical guidance across disciplines, with feedback as you build your skills.

Own meaningful work. Take responsibility for real builds and tests, with support as you grow in confidence.

Join us at our new HQ. We’re based in Mascot, Sydney, close to Mascot station, with the team and hardware around you.

Reporting to Morgan Sheather-Reid | Robotics Engineer & System Integration Lead @ Puralink