Two PhD studentships are available at Institute for Systems and Robotics
(http://www.isr. uc.pt) University of Coimbra (http://www.uc. pt)
The positions are available within the framework of the European project GUARDIANS (http://guardians- project.eu/)
Project summary:
The GUARDIANS are a swarm of autonomous robots applied to navigate and search an urban ground. The project's central example is an industrial warehouse in smoke, as proposed by the Fire and Rescue Service. The job is time consuming and dangerous; toxics may be released and humans senses can be severely impaired. They get disoriented and may get lost. The robots warn for toxic chemicals, provide and maintain mobile communication links, infer localisation information and assist in
searching. They enhance operational safety and speed and thus indirectly save lives.
The robots navigate autonomously and accompany a human squad-leader. They connect to a wireless ad-hoc network and forward data to the squad-leader and the control station. The network is self-organising, adapts to connection failures by modifying its connections from local up to central connections. The autonomous swarm operates in communicative and non-communicative mode. In communicative mode automatic service
discovery is applied: the robots find peers to help them. The wireless network also enables the robots to support a human squad-leader operating within close range. The aim is for flexible and seamless switching between these modes in order to compensate for loss of network signals and to support and safeguard the squad-leader.
Several robot platforms are used, off-the-shelf mini-robots as well as middle sized robots. The emphasis in data collection is on toxic plume detection, to enable olfactory-based navigation, allow safe progress for the human squad-leader and to detect plume sources.
Research areas:
- Mobile robot sensor integration and data fusion
- Cooperative SLAM
- Mobile robot olfaction
Starting date:
- October 2007
Applicants must have completed a Master's thesis by September 30, 2007, preferably in the field of Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science, or Robotics, or Intelligent Systems. Strong mathematical skills, expert knowledge of C/C++ programming, and good level of written/spoken English are required. Applicants must also have expert knowledge in at least one of the following areas: estimation theory, state-space methods, classical and modern control system design, embedded systems design, smart sensors.
We are looking for individuals who show strong motivation to pursue advanced studies and are capable of adapting to team work.
Successful applicants will receive a one-year research assistantship, renewable yearly based on successful research achievements. The value of the fellowship will be 980 € monthly free of taxes.
Interested students should submit a detailed biographical vitae, including relevant courses completed (specifying texts used, if applicable) and a description of prior research including a copy of international publications, if any (max 3). In addition, they should provide the names of two academic references (name, title, affiliation, e-mail and telephone number(s)) who are willing to provide detailed
recommendation letters about the candidate. Finally, they should include a one-page summary of their future research objectives.
The above material, or any inquire regarding the research work, should be e-mailed no later than Aug 31, 2007 to Lino Marques (lino at isr.uc.pt).
After a preliminary screening, the academic references will be contacted to independently provide confidential recommendation letters. The ISR/UC reserves the right to select no one or only one Ph.D. candidate.
Lino Marques
Institute of Systems and Robotics
Dep. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Coimbra
3030-290 Coimbra
PORTUGAL Fax: +(351) 239 406 672 Phone: +(351) 239 796 277
[sursa beasiswa]
If you want to receive academic resources in your e-mail on daily basis, please subscribe to 10resources-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
