Post-Doc Position: Expressions of interest (Date of Publication: 29/09/2021 – Status: active)
Expressions of interest are invited for 1 Post-Doc position to carry out research in the areas of bi-manual manipulation, human-robot-interaction and learning at the LAI Robotics research group of University of Cassino and Southern Lazio (UNICAS), Italy.
The Post-Doc position is in the context of a just started 4-year H2020-ICT46 project entitled “CANOPIES – A Collaborative Paradigm for Human Workers and Multi-Robot Teams in Precision Agriculture Systems” whose responsible for UNICAS is Prof. Alessandro Marino, and which started on 1st January 2021.
Requirements
Candidates should hold a PhD or at least three years of certified research in following areas:
1) Robot manipulation: planning and control
2) Cooperative manipulation
3) Field robotics with experimental validations
4) Machine Learning and human-like manipulation is a plus.
Candidates should have a track record of high impact international publications and demonstrate enthusiasm for performing both theoretical and experimental research activities. Furthermore, candidates should have excellent programming skills in C++, C, Matlab and knowledge of the Robot Operating Systems (ROS).
The research activity is aimed at the development of control algorithms for mobile bi-manipulation systems in precision agriculture and human-robot collaborative contexts. In particular, the activity will concern the development, implementation and experimental validation, in the context of precision agriculture, of motion and force control algorithms of mobile redundant systems consisting of a sensorized mobile base and manipulator arms in presence of human operators. The developed algorithms should leverage human-like manipulation and must be able to manage the characteristics of the application context of the European project CANOPIES represented by grape pergolas vineyards. The activity will be carried out in cooperation with the LAI robotics group and in collaborations with other Italian and foreign research groups, possibly requiring research periods at their sites.
Particular attention is paid to the applicant’s prospects to contribute to research and the ability and suitability to collaborate with other members of the research environment.
Good communication skills in English are required. No knowledge of the Italian language is required.
Project Description
The main scientific objectives of CANOPIES are to develop novel human-robot interactions (HRI), human robot collaboration (HRC) and multi-robot coordination (MRC) methodologies for implementing an effective collaborative paradigm between human workers and multi-robot teams for the precision farming of permanents crops to be validated in the context of the table-grape vineyards. CANOPIES represents the first attempt to introduce a collaborative paradigm in the field of precision agriculture for permanent crops where farmworkers can efficiently work together with teams of robots to perform agronomic interventions, like harvesting or pruning in table-grape vineyards. Both operations require complex processes of perception, communication, shared planning in agreement, prediction of human intentions, interaction and action. But also, both agronomic operations should be done in real life conditions, that is, in changing illumination and cast shadows, changing agronomic situations, where the vine branches or grapes can make it difficult to harvest or prune in a safe manner, due to the robot physical proximity to the human, while operating in real time.
Here a short presentation of the project.
What we offer
1) Position is full-time, renewable up to three years and is open to candidates of any nationality;
2) The salary is according to UNICAS’s post-doctoral student salary agreement;
3) The position offers the possibility to study in a dynamic and international context and research group in collaboration with industries and universities.
How to apply
The reply to this call should consist of an email, sent to alessandro.marino@unicas.it, containing:
1) A detailed curriculum vitae, including a list of publications;
2) Summary of PhD thesis or of at least three years of certified research;
A call for applications will open as soon as possible in October, 2021.