The recently established “AgilE RobotIcs & Autonomy Lab” (AERIAL) at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) is opening PhD positions in the field of advanced navigational and operational autonomy for aerial robotics. The
main focus of the envisaged research efforts will be related with leveraging the currently achieved autonomy levels towards enabling what we call autonomous aerial service robotic co-workers, a new class of robots that simultaneously perceive their environment, decide their actions, collaborate with other robots, plan and actuate themselves so that useful work tasks take place for the benefit of our societies.
We aim to contribute into closing the “Perception-Navigation-Action loops” and through that not only improve the individual modules (perception, path planning and control) but further exploit them through their tight combination.
PhD candidates with path planning/control or robotic perception background are equally welcome to apply. The salaries are competitive by international and national standards.
Download the detailed call from http://www.kostas-alexis.com/positions or https://goo.gl/gTH1VD.
*Conditions*
The student will be based at the Computer Science & Engineering Department of the University of Nevada, Reno and will have access to a number of robotic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and all the required hardware components and software tools, laboratory infrastructure for safe testing and ground-truth analysis as well as access to large field-testing areas.
Interdisciplinary research is encouraged across laboratories, including the Computer Vision Laboratory, the human-robot interaction team, the Human + team, the Socially Assistive Robotics team and the group of researchers under the Nevada Advanced Autonomous Systems Innovation Center (NAASIC).
The research group collaborates with leading national and international laboratories. The PhD salaries are competitive by international and national standards (1800 $ /month, tuition waiver and fringe benefits) while a highly integrated, open to different cultures and experiences and top–notch environment is to be expected.
*Qualifications*
The ideal candidate holds (or is about to obtain) a first-class honor undergraduate/postgraduate degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace
Engineering, Mathematics or has authored publications in recognized conferences/journals. Good programming skills are necessary.
He/she must be a good team player. Collegiality and interpersonal skills are essential. Experience with robotics–related projects will be highly valued. Excellent English language skills are highly desired.
As 2+ positions are to be fulfilled, applicants adept in both control/path-planning as well as robotic vision are equally encouraged to submit their application.
*Application*
The positions are to be fulfilled immediately and ideally before the Spring 2016 Semester. Prospective candidates should submit their application by e-mail to the following address by 30 September 2015:
Prof. Dr. Kostas Alexis
Dept. of Computer Science Engineering MS-171
University of Nevada, Reno
e-mail: kalexis[at]unr.edu
www-unr: http://www.unr.edu/cse/people/faculty/alexis
www-personal: http://www.kostas-alexis.com
