Technical interview guide

Robot Kinematics

The geometry of robot motion — translating between joint angles and the position of the robot's end effector.

Read: 45 min
Practice MCQs: 25
Interview QA: 25
Edition: v4
Editorial status: Reviewed
Relevant for: Robotics Engineer

Scope: Modern Robotics, ROS 2 Rolling tf2/URDF, MoveIt 2, Drake, Pinocchio, MATLAB Robotics System Toolbox, SciPy, and Eigen documentation reviewed 2026-09-04.

Interview QA

Treat each question like a live interview question: answer out loud first (structure, assumptions, tradeoffs), then open the model answer to spot gaps and rehearse a tighter follow-up.

Curated: 2026-10-05 · Written: 2026-10-05 · Reviewed: 2026-10-03

QA-1

Design a forward-kinematics interface for a robot service.

QA-2

Prevent frame-direction bugs in a kinematics API.

QA-3

Validate and repair rotation data at a system boundary.

QA-4

Use Euler angles safely at an external interface.

QA-5

Design quaternion storage and interpolation for robot poses.

QA-6

Review a base-to-camera-to-tool transform chain.

QA-7

What is the difference between geometric and analytical Jacobians, and how do you map end-effector velocities between them?

QA-8

Design behavior near a kinematic singularity.

QA-9

Define manipulability and singularity health metrics.

QA-10

Select among multiple IK solutions safely.

QA-11

Design an IK result contract and failure handling.

QA-12

Build a robust multi-start numerical IK strategy.

QA-13

Specify an IK objective and acceptance test.

QA-14

Use redundancy for joint-limit avoidance.

QA-15

Design a teleoperation differential-IK loop.

QA-16

Handle joint position, velocity, and acceleration limits across kinematics.

QA-17

Manage base and tool calibration in a multi-tool cell.

QA-18

Design time-aware transform lookup for perception-to-motion.

QA-19

Build property tests for forward kinematics and Jacobians.

QA-20

Connect IK to motion planning without losing safety constraints.

QA-21

Model kinematics for a differential-drive mobile base.

QA-22

Plan and accept a robot kinematic calibration.

QA-23

Review whether a kinematically valid robot motion is executable.

QA-24

How do you parameterize a geometric path into a time-dependent trajectory subject to joint velocity, acceleration, and jerk limits?

QA-25