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PhD Student Positions Available,
Centre for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems (AASS), Örebro University, Sweden
Open PhD Position Announcement
Two fully funded PhD student positions will be available from 1st of January, 2007 at the AASS Learning Systems Lab, University of Örebro, Sweden (Head of the institute: Dimiter Driankov, project leader: Achim Lilienthal). These are PhD positions in a newly established project "DustBot - Networked and Cooperating Robots for Urban Hygiene" funded by the European Union.
DustBot Project:
The DustBot project involves altogether nine partners from several European countries, including academic and industrial institutions. The project is aimed at designing, developing, testing and demonstrating a system for improving the management of urban hygiene based on a network of autonomous and cooperating robots embedded in an Ambient Intelligence infrastructure. The robots will operate in partially unstructured environments (such as squares, streets, parks, etc.) where they vacuum-clean rubbish and dirt and transport small quantities of garbage. They will be equipped with different gas sensors to monitor atmospheric pollutants. The robots will also have the means to communicate information on the environmental quality. In order to model the distribution of atmospheric pollutants in real time, additional sensors (such as temperature, humidity, and airflow sensors) will be used both mounted on the mobile robots and integrated into the Ambient environment.
PhD position "Navigation and Multi-Robot Path Planning":
The PhD student enrolled on this position will perform research in the field of robot navigation, path planning and obstacle avoidance in the context of a team of robots integrated into an Ambient Intelligence. Particular challenges of this PhD study will be the fusion of information from multiple sensors and the Ambient environment for localisation; constraints due to the outdoor conditions (pavements, steps or slopes); optimization of collective coverage, taking into account asynchronous requests from human operators or other modules of the DustBot system; and that the requests can be path or coverage requests. Further information about the PhD position can be found at http://aass.oru.se/~dustbot/PhdAnn_NavPathPlan.html.
Prerequisites:
The candidate must have the equivalent of a Masters degree in Robotics, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering, and an excellent study curriculum. Candidates with a Masters degree in a related area (such as Physics, Electronic Engineering, for example) with a solid programming background and a strong motivation in designing/building physical mechanical systems as well as in simulation and data analysis, will be also considered. Previous experience with mobile robots is a plus. Experience in robot vision and sensor fusion and with the cross-platform robot server Player and the corresponding simulators Stage and Gazebo are advantageous though not obligatory. Proficiency in writing/spoken English is mandatory.
PhD position "Distributed Pollution Monitoring With a Group of Mobile Robots":
The PhD student enrolled on this position will perform research in the field of gas distribution modelling and distributed environmental monitoring by a team of robots that is integrated into an Ambient Intelligence. In particular, this PhD study will require working with different gas sensors and modelling their interaction with the environment; and modelling gas distribution in real time, considering the chaotic character of gas transport in a real-world environment and the uncertainty regarding the position and the value of measurements obtained from the mobile robots. Further information about the PhD position can be found at http://aass.oru.se/~dustbot/PhdAnn_PollMon.html.
Prerequisites:
The candidate must have a good theoretical understanding of the physical problem, a solid programming background, a strong motivation in modelling and data analysis and an excellent study curriculum. Candidates must have the equivalent of a Masters degree in one of the following disciplines (but other areas are also possible): Physics, Robotics, Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, Mathematics, or Computer Engineering. Previous experience with gas sensors and mobile robots is a plus. Proficiency in writing/spoken English is mandatory.
Application:
Interested candidates should send an updated CV, together with a motivation letter and at least two academic references by e-mail to Dr. Achim Lilienthal (
_CLOAKING
). The deadline for applications is 30.10.2006.
More Information:
Contact Person: Dr. Achim Lilienthal
_CLOAKING
DustBot Project: http://aass.oru.se/~dustbot/
About AASS: http://www.aass.oru.se
Örebro University: http://www.oru.se/
PhD study at AASS: http://www.oru.se/templates/oruExtNormal.aspx?id=15066
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