Location: School of Computer Science, University of Lincoln, UK

Research Assistant Salary: £26,274+ – Research Fellow Salary: £31,342+

Closing Date: Saturday 12 September 2015

Interview Date: Tuesday 29 September 2015

Reference: COS146A

Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow position at the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS) to work full-time for 2 years on a European H2020 funded project “FLOBOT – Floor washing robot for professional users” from October 2015 (or as soon as possible thereafter). Information about L-CAS and the project is available on our website: http://robots.lincoln.ac.uk

The position offers the opportunity to engage in international collaboration within an ambitious team, to work with state-of-the-art robotic hardware and software, to attend international conferences and project meetings with partner institutions, and to benefit from excellent support to produce and disseminate original research contributions.

Applicants should have, or expect to soon obtain, a PhD in Robotics, Computer Vision, Machine Learning and/or a related area. Excellent software implementation skills (C++/Python) are essential. Hands-on practical experience in areas including robot perception, sensor fusion, multi-target tracking and robotics middleware (e.g. ROS) would also be an advantage. Evidence of authorship of research outputs is essential, as is the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, including excellent communication skills.

Alternatively, to allow talented but less qualified individuals to apply, applications are also invited for a Research Assistant position to work full-time for 2 years on the project, with the possibility to register for and undertake a PhD in parallel with the planned developments. For an outstanding individual, an additional 12-month bursary may be provided at the end of the project.

The research focuses on robot perception for people detection, tracking and motion analysis in dynamic environments, using laser range-finder and RGB-D sensors. The post-holder’s primary tasks will involve developing novel algorithms and approaches for enabling long-term robot autonomy including the acquisition, maintenance and refinement of multiple human trajectories for collision avoidance and path optimisation. Additional tasks include integration of the algorithms with the robot navigation and on-board floor inspection system, and relevant project management activities.

The University of Lincoln is a forward-thinking, ambitious institution and you will be working in the heart of a thriving, beautiful, safe and friendly city. L-CAS provides a stimulating environment for academic research, and is based in high quality, newly developed facilities.

Informal enquiries about the post can be made to Dr Nicola Bellotto (email: nbellotto@lincoln.ac.uk) or Prof Tom Duckett (email: tduckett@lincoln.ac.uk).

For further information or to apply online please visit our website at https://jobs.lincoln.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=COS146A

As a member of the Athena SWAN Charter we are committed to advancing gender equality in STEM, therefore female applicants are strongly encouraged to apply.