Ph D Position in Craft-Inspired Robotic Fabrication

The research groups Research[x]Design at the Department of Architecture, and Robotics at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, are offering a fully-funded, 4-year Ph D position at KU Leuven university (Belgium). As the research is interdisciplinary in nature, an ideal Ph D candidate should be able to combine relevant knowledge from (architectural) design, human-computer interaction (HCI) and robotics.

The research group Rx D of prof. Vande Moere at the Department of Architecture follows a design-oriented research approach to investigate the unexplored creative opportunities of various emerging technologies. While this research methodology typically produces fundamental theories and design recommendations, it typically also creates opportunities towards commercial university spin-offs.

The research group of prof. Bruyninckx focuses on the specification and control of complex, multi-robot tasks; the online estimation and decision making for "force" based robots; and the development of new robotics software platforms in open source. The formal representation of knowledge, and the corresponding reasoning, take an ever growing role in that R&D context.

Both research groups have been successfully collaborating before. As such, they also share a wide range of advanced robotic, sensing and actuation equipment specifically reserved to advance robotic fabrication research.

Project

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  digital or robotic fabrication, which preferably involves the direct manipulation of malleable materials.

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  computer science, which definitely includes the ability to program (e.g. Python), and preferably involves dealing with robotic control, computer vision, machine learning, or AI.

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  design science, which preferably involves matters of parametric design, 3D modelling, or creative design reasoning.

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  human-computer interaction (HCI), which preferably focuses on the physical prototyping and user-centred evaluation of interactive interfaces that are tangible, virtual (e.g. VR/AR) or generative (e.g. LLM) .

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  a scientific research-oriented attitude and the natural ability to work in an interdisciplinary team.

• We offer a contract of 4 (2+2) years as a Ph D researcher of KU Leuven.

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  When hired, you will become a member of both research groups, and thus form part of a highly motivated interdisciplinary team operating in an extensive international network.

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  You will also become member of KU Leuven, one of the largest research universities of Europe, the most innovative university of Europe (ranked first in Reuters ranking), located in the heart of Europe.

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  You will have the chance to take part in international conferences and academic collaborations to become a top notch academic researcher, or pursue the opportunity to commercialise our state-of-the-art findings in a university spin-off.

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  You will receive a competitive salary and benefits. Furthermore, you will supported in your career by the university and are offered to follow countless courses to improve your personal skillset.

For more information please contact prof. dr. Andrew Vande Moere via e-mail: andrew.vandemoere@kuleuven.be. Mention the title of this position in the subject.

Tewerkstellingspercentage: Voltijds

Locatie : Leuven

Solliciteren tot en met:
27/09/2024 23:59 CET

Tags: Architectuur, Kunsten, Werktuigkunde, Ingenieurswetenschappen