1 Post Doc Position in iCub Facility Department

We are looking for a highly motivated researcher with strong enthusiasm to work with robotic platforms and skills to investigate and implement algorithms exploiting visual feedback to enhance object manipulation. The project will be carried out on the iCub platform, a full-fledged humanoid endowed with moving cameras and articulated hands sporting tactile sensors.

Description

Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (http://www.iit.it) is a private Foundation with the objective of promoting Italy's technological development and higher education in science and technology. Research at IIT is carried out in highly innovative scientific fields with state-of-the-art technology. Within IIT the iCub Facility Department (http://www.iit.it/icub) is looking for a post-doctoral researcher.

This position is funded by the EU WALK-MAN project (http://walk-man.eu), whose goal is the development of a humanoid robot equipped with human levels of dexterous and powerful manipulation skills, robust balanced locomotion and physical sturdiness. In addition, the robot will have the sufficient cognitive ability to operate autonomously or through remote operation with minimal supervision.

To improve grasp stability and tolerance to uncertainties, we aim to advance the state-of-the-art methods in visual servoing. The latter is a well-known technique in robotics, but it is made challenging in this context because the visual appearance of the hand can significantly change in shape and undergo partial occlusions during manipulation. The project will therefore focus on building 3D model representations of the environment and the robot manipulator based on exteroceptive vision data during task execution.

We are looking for a highly motivated researcher with strong enthusiasm to work with robotic platforms and skills to investigate and implement algorithms exploiting visual feedback to enhance object manipulation. The project will be carried out on the iCub platform, a full-fledged humanoid endowed with moving cameras and articulated hands sporting tactile sensors. Tasks will be:
To develop and implement methods for object and manipulator tracking for visual servoing in single and stereo-camera real-time video streams;
Monitor, evaluate and extend state-of-the-art methods and verify their applicability;
Test and verify functionality under real world conditions on the iCub and the Walk-man robots.
We seek a candidate with the following additional skills:
PhD in robotics and/or computer science areas;
Hands-on experience in and in-depth knowledge of computer vision and stereo vision;
Excellent C/C++ and MATLAB programming skills;
Strong research and problem solving skills, ability to analyze, improve and propose new algorithms;
Excellent communication, teamwork and technical writing skills.
The position will be funded by the FP7 EU grant WALK-MAN ICT 2013.10 Cognitive Systems and Robotics (GA 611832).

An internationally experience-related competitive salarywill be offered.

Interested applicants should submit their CV and a list of publications to the following email address: jobpost.walkman@icub.iit.it with at least the names of 2 referees.