We are looking to recruit up to 4 Postdoctoral Research Fellows for robotics in extreme environments with research profiles in robot learning, robot grasping, robot motion planning, robotic navigation and mapping, robotic scheduling and planning, or robotics system science and engineering, to join our growing robotics research team.

The successful candidates will work within a large consortium of robotics experts in the UK including Universities of Birmingham, Queen Mary, Essex, Bristol, Edinburgh and Lincoln. Under this project, more than 40 postdoctoral researchers and PhD researchers form a team to develop cutting edge scientific solutions to all aspects of robotics in extreme environments such as sensor and manipulator design, computer vision, robotic grasping and manipulation, mobile robotics, intuitive user interfaces and shared autonomy.

At the University of Lincoln, we will develop new machine learning algorithms for several crucial applications in robotics in extreme environments such as handling of nuclear waste and site monitoring with mobile robots.  Clean-up and decommissioning of nuclear waste is one of the biggest challenges for our and the next generations with enormous predicted costs (up to 200Bn£ over the next hundred years). Moreover, recent disaster situations such as Fukushima have shown the crucial importance of robotics technology for monitoring and intervention, which is missing up to date. Our team will focus on algorithms for vision guided robot grasping and manipulation, cutting, shared control and semi-autonomy, mobile robot navigation and outdoor mapping and navigation with a strong focus on machine learning and adaptation techniques. A dedicated bimanual robot arm platform is being developed, mounted a mobile platform, and to be operated using shared autonomy, tele-operation and augmented reality concepts to be developed.

You will have access to state-of-the-art research robot equipment consisting of cutting-edge robot arms and outdoor mobile robots. Through the close collaboration with industry and academic partners, you will be embedded in a national consortium, with excellent opportunities to develop a strong individual research portfolio while being engaged in impactful and exciting research solving real-world problems of great societal need.

We are looking to recruit postdoctoral researchers with relevant experience and/or a keen interest in a number of research areas, including (but not limited to):

• Learning from Demonstrations
• Reinforcement Learning
• Deep Learning
• Robot Grasping and Manipulation
• Motion Planning and Control
• Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
• Human-robot collaboration;
• Robot mapping and localisation (SLAM) as well as navigation;
• Software engineering in robotics; and
• Integration and orchestration of robotic systems.

You will be placed at the centre of this exciting project, collaborating closely with other researchers and universities, taking a leading role in the research, development, integration and orchestration of the overall system, with a focus on algorithm development and software development.

Applicants should have or expect to soon obtain, a PhD in a relevant area. You must have excellent mathematical and coding skills (C++/Python, ROS). This opportunity allows you to engage in international collaboration within an ambitious team, to work with state-of-the-art robotic hardware and software, and to benefit from excellent support to produce and disseminate original research contributions in the leading international conferences and journals.

You will also contribute to the University’s ambition to achieve international recognition as a research intensive institution and will be expected to design, conduct and manage original research in the above subject areas as well contribute to the wider activities of the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS). Evidence of authorship of research outputs of international standing is essential, as is the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, including excellent written and spoken communication skills. Opportunities to mentor and co-supervise PhD students working in the project team will also be available to outstanding candidates.

Informal enquiries about the post can be made to Prof. Gerhard Neumann (email: gneumann@lincoln.ac.uk) and Dr. Marc Hanheide (mhanheide@lincoln.ac.uk).