PhD Positions at the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence

05.10.2021, Wissenschaftliches Personal

The Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence at the Technical University of Munich is looking for outstanding applicants for three PhD positions 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), formerly MSRM is directed by Prof. Sami Haddadin (2019 Leibniz prize winner). The MIRMI is a globally visible interdisciplinary research center for machine intelligence, which is the integration of robotics, artificial intelligence and perception. A lighthouse initiative of MIRMI is the Geriatronics project located in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. This refers to the use of robotics, mechatronics and information technology, in particular machine intelligence, in the field of gerontology and geriatric as well as in preventive, outpatient and inpatient care of the elderly.

Description

We are looking for outstanding and highly motivated PhD students to join our team at MIRMI and contribute to the development of our humanoid robot so-called “GARMI” and to the Geriatronics Lighthouse Initiative. You will work closely with supervisors from MIRMI (in both Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Munich) and we will provide all support on writing papers and submitting to conferences such as IROS, ICRA, ICAPS, Humanoids, HRI and their corresponding journals. During the PhD, you are also expected to develop your own scientific ideas/concepts and to communicate them verbally and in writing. The position is connected to the Geriatronics Project and therefore, you are expected to report the system design and developments to our project partner TQ-Systems—followed by technological evaluation with our partner at the Deutsches Museum. The position may also include duties regarding either the maintenance of the robot repository, CI/CD with other members of the team, and integration of the results at GARMI and at the Deutscheus Museum location. Please consider applying if you have a strong background in electrical engineering, mechatronics and/or computer science. We especially seek individuals with excellent programming skills (particularly in C/C++ and Python) and who have some previous experience, knowledge and/or interest in the specific areas for each position.

Description: Position 1 - Human-Centered Task Planning

This PhD position will give you a unique opportunity to work on the boundary between human-centered task-planning, whole-body motion planning, and machine learning so as to equip the GARMI robot with better decision capabilities (understanding risks, planning actions accordingly, and recovering from failure).

Position Desired Experience, Knowledge and/or Interest (at least one):

• Motion planning or control applied to robot manipulators
• Task and motion planning
• Human-robot interaction
• Automated planning and reasoning
• Machine learning applied to robotics

Experience with ROS, MATLAB, and CI/CD is also greatly appreciated, as well as experience with real-robot applications, user-studies, and having previous experience conducting high-quality research. These are however not necessary conditions for applying.

Description: Position 2 - Shared Autonomy
This PhD position will give you a unique opportunity to work and design skill-sets for GARMI to improve the robot autonomous decision making capabilities in the context of shared autonomy. GARMI should be able to explore its skill-set to self-determine between fully autonomous actions, shared control and even incremental learning. Potentially, GARMI skill-set should be connected to a cloud interface so it is extendable to other GARMI robots, but allowing interpretability and personalization for different users and contexts. Position Desired Experience, Knowledge and/or Interest (at least one):

• Motion planning or control applied to robot manipulators
• Task and motion planning
• Automated planning and reasoning
• Force control / physical human-robot interaction
• Shared control / Teleoperation
• Probabilistic methods for robotics

Experience with ROS, MATLAB, VR, and CI/CD is also greatly appreciated, as well as experience with real-robot applications, user studies, and having previous experience conducting high-quality research. These are however not necessary conditions for applying.

Description: Position 3 - Learning and Teaching in Robotics
This PhD position will focus on designing learning and teaching modules for robots and humans. This position will also give you a unique opportunity to work with state-of-the-art robotics technology and to explore how to transfer this technology to real-world. Here, you will also be expected to lead user studies.

Position Desired Experience, Knowledge and/or Interest (at least one):

• Motion planning or control applied to robot manipulators
• Human-robot interaction
• Automated planning and reasoning
• Learning by demonstration
• Machine learning applied to robotics

Experience with ROS, VR, Humanoids, user studies and technology transfer is also greatly appreciated, as well as experience with real-robot applications, and having previous experience conducting high-quality research. These are however not necessary conditions for applying.

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
• Email addresses of at least two references

All positions also require sound verbal and written skills in English.

Interested applicants should send the necessary documents via email to [email protected] quoting “PhD in Geriatronics (Topic: )” in the e-mail subject line. The position will be filled as soon as possible and only shortlisted candidates will be notified. Priority will be given to applications received by Oct. 31, 2021. 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
Heßstraße 134
80797 München
[email protected]

Data Protection Information:
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Kontakt: [email protected]