PhD Scholarship in Compliant Physical Human-Robot Interactions by Means of Bioinspired Control

The Department of Electrical and Photonics Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) invites applicants for a 3-years PhD position in the areas of soft-robotics and bioinspired control.

At DTU, you will be part of a group with broad competences in robotics and autonomous systems, and you will have access to unique facilities where you will be able to conduct your research in a highly motivated, technology-oriented environment where you will enrich your competences through collaboration with several peers and senior staff members. 

The PhD project is financed by DTU, and it is part of a joint alliance research project; the alliance partner is the University of Technology of Eindhoven (TU/e), Department of Mechanical Engineering. 

Responsibilities

Do you have a passion for cross-disciplinary research spanning the fields of computational neuroscience and engineering? If so, you might be well-suited to join the neurorobotics team. In general, our neurorobotics team works to apply biological control concepts in simulation and on physical robots to investigate neuroscientific hypotheses on biological processes related to motor control and learning. In parallel, within the automation and control area, we investigate high-accuracy nonlinear control for complex motion control applications. 

This new project will focus on the research of new control framework for soft robots that can guarantee safe operation with humans in the loop. This will be achieved by subsequent design, testing and validation of a biomimetic control architecture that combines nonlinear model-based adaptive control and spiking neural learning (cerebellum-like model). 

The project will be under the supervision of Associate Professor Silvia Tolu and Assistant Professor Dimitrios Papageorgiou from DTU with co-supervision from TU/e.

Besides working on their project, the successful candidate will participate in training events and courses. Moreover, the PhD student will conduct a secondment at the TU/e.

The PhD student at DTU will closely collaborate with a PhD student at TU/e in research tasks regarding: 1) the investigation of the use of soft-robots in health-care settings with respect to requirements and conditions of Human Robot Interactions (HRI); 2) implementation of compliant interactions of soft robot and haptic system with humans; 3) design of non-linear adaptive control strategy for robust behaviour of the soft robot; 4) use of haptic feedback and machine learning in a closed-loop connection; 5) development of supervised error learning and reinforcement learning algorithms for optimal interactive movements.

Application procedure

To apply, please read the full job advertisement at www.career.dtu.dk

Application deadline:19 April 2022.

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DTU develops technology for people. With our international elite research and study programmes, we are helping to create a better world and to solve the global challenges formulated in the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Hans Christian Ørsted founded DTU in 1829 with a clear vision to develop and create value using science and engineering to benefit society. That vision lives on today. DTU has 12,900 students and 6,000 employees. We work in an international atmosphere and have an inclusive, evolving, and informal working environment. DTU has campuses in all parts of Denmark and in Greenland, and we collaborate with the best universities around the world.