🤖 Forward Deployed: Engineering Robots in the Real World

A new kind of engineering role is taking shape across the physical AI landscape — the Forward Deployed Robotics Engineer (FDRE). Part field engineer, part product thinker, part hands-on builder, this role is emerging fast among companies deploying robots in real-world environments.

This meetup gathers engineers who live this role every day, sharing stories straight from the field — real projects, messy tradeoffs, and hard-won lessons included.

---

🗓️ Schedule

• 18:00 — Walk-in & drinks
• 18:30 — Talks begin (2 × 30 mins)
• Post-talks — Hang out, chat, and connect

🥤 Drinks (including non-alcoholic options) and delicious wraps will be provided to keep the energy up!

---

🎤 Talks

Life of an FDRE

Josefine Quack — Monumental

What does true ownership look like when you're working in the field? Josefine dives into how getting your hands dirty is essential to innovating efficiently, and why her day-to-day looks nothing like a traditional robotics or software engineering role.

---

What Happens When Robots Ignore Construction Rules

Alfred Polycarpe — Monumental

You've been handed a drawing for something you've never built before — and it kicks off next week. Alfred walks through the hardware workarounds, math-based design tooling, and the codebase assumptions that only crack when you push a robot past standard walls.

---

👥 Who Should Come?

This event is built for robotics engineers, mechatronics specialists, and software engineers working on physical systems — essentially anyone curious about what it really takes to scale robots end-to-end in the field.

---

🏗️ About the Host — Monumental

Monumental builds autonomous robots that construct buildings. Their machines are already laying bricks on family homes, canal walls, and industrial structures across the Netherlands.

• 🔗 Learn more about Atrium, Monumental's operating system for software-defined construction
• 💼 Explore open roles at Monumental

📍 Plantage Middenlaan 62, Amsterdam