PhD Position in Safe and Robust Remote Robot Control

27.12.2021, Wissenschaftliches Personal

The Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI) at the Technical University of Munich is looking for an outstanding applicant for a PhD position in Remote Robot Control under the supervision of Prof. Sami Haddadin.

About us

Located in the prosperous capital of Bavaria and home to over 39000 students, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of the world’s top universities (top 4 European technical universities in The World University Ranking, top 50 in Shanghai Ranking, top 10 in Global University Employability Ranking, etc.). It is committed to excellence in research and teaching, interdisciplinary education, and the active promotion of promising young scientists. TUM benefits from the healthy mix of companies and startups of all sizes headquartered in the region and is tightly connected to regional research hospitals. The university also forges strong links with companies and scientific institutions across the world.

The TUM Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI) is a globally visible interdisciplinary research center for machine intelligence, which is the integration of robotics, artificial intelligence and perception. Its three central innovation sectors are the future of health, the future of work, the future of environment, and the future of mobility. More than 50 professors from various TUM faculties cooperate within the framework of MIRMI.

Description

We are looking for an outstanding and highly motivated applicant to join our team at MIRMI to pursue a PhD track in the research and development of safe and robust remote robot controllers. This PhD position stems out of the large scale 6G-Life project (https://6g-life.de/) and will give you a unique opportunity to work in the field of robotics that operate with 6G communication technologies. Additionally, the methods and findings developed throughout the PhD track will be scalable and applicable to other research projects in MIRMI.

The use of high-bandwidth and low-latency communication networks is expected to transfer essentially all resource-intense local planning, learning and perception computation resources from mobile manipulation robot platforms to the edge and beyond. This transfer will allow mobile robots to be significantly lighter, more modular, and more energy efficient, i.e., overall power consumption will decrease owing to lower weight and reduced computation in the system itself. Even local coordinated robot motion and interaction controllers will be transferred remotely from the system; therefore new controller algorithms and architectures must be developed. These controllers need to be robust and fault-tolerant, and they have to identify and handle the possible jammings in the 6G communication to maintain the continuous operation of robots. For mobile robots executing dynamic tasks in the industry and healthcare environments, the robustness and security of these robot controllers is crucial against possible disruptions on the communication network. The findings throughout the PhD track are expected to be published in leading journals and conferences in the robotics community.

Requirements

You will work closely with supervisors and researchers from MIRMI (in both Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen Campuses) and report the system design and developments to our project officers and founders.

Please consider applying if you have a strong background in robotics and control engineering. We especially seek individuals with excellent background, knowledge and/or interest in the following areas:

• Masters in mechanical/electrical engineering, computer science, or a comparable field,
• Experience with MATLAB Simulink, C++/Python and ROS,
• Experience with robotics, control theory, modelling (simulation), and algorithm development,
• Hands on experience with physical robotics systems is a plus,
• Fluency in spoken and written English, German is a plus,
• High motivation and willingness to work in an international and interdisciplinary team

How to apply?

The following documents are needed for applications:

• A motivation letter (1-3 pages) describing (i) yourself, (ii) your research interests, (iii) your qualifications, (iv) your future career goals and research focus and (v) why you would be a suitable candidate
• A detailed CV
• Academic transcripts from your Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees
• Email addresses of at least two references

Interested applicants should send the necessary documents via email to [email protected] quoting “PhD Position in Safe and Robust Remote Robot Control” in the e-mail subject line. The position will be filled as soon as possible and only shortlisted candidates will be notified. Preference will be given to applications received before Jan. 20th, 2022.

TUM has been pursuing the strategic goal of substantially increasing the diversity of its staff. As an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, TUM explicitly encourages nominations of and applications from women as well as from all others who would bring additional diversity dimensions to the university’s research and teaching strategies. Preference will be given to disabled candidates with equal qualifications. International candidates are highly encouraged to apply.

Technische Universität München
Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60-62,
80992 München
[email protected]

Data Protection Information:
When you apply for a position with the Technical University of Munich (TUM), you are submitting personal information. With regard to personal information, please take note of the Datenschutzhinweise gemäß Art. 13 Datenschutz-Grundverordnung (DSGVO) zur Erhebung und Verarbeitung von personenbezogenen Daten im Rahmen Ihrer Bewerbung. (data protection information on collecting and processing personal data contained in your application in accordance with Art. 13 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)). By submitting your application, you confirm that you have acknowledged the above data protection information of TUM.

Kontakt: [email protected]