PostDoc position in the project ‘ENERGY EFFICIENT ACTUATIONS’

The University of Twente is an entrepreneurial research university, located about 200 km from Amsterdam in Enschede, a city in Twente, the garden of the Netherlands with excellent recreation facilities. Organized over 5 faculties, the UT offers 20 educational programs ranging from applied physics, public and business administration, communication studies and diverse programs in engineering technology. Research takes place within the context of institutes and focuses, among other things, on nanotechnology, information and communication technology (CTIT), biomedical technology, policy studies, construction management & engineering, and mechanics. More than 7,000 students and 2,700 staff members live, work and recreate at the UT, the Netherlands’ only campus university with a park-like atmosphere and numerous sporting facilities.

In the Control Engineering (CE) Laboratory of the faculty of

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science we have a vacancy

PostDoc position in the project ‘ENERGY EFFICIENT ACTUATIONS’ at the University of Twente

The ENERGY EFFICIENT ACTUATIONS Project

This project aims at developing actuation technologies for a new generation of robots that can co-exist and co-operate with people and get much closer to the human manipulation and locomotion performance than today’s robots do. At the same time these robots are expected to be safe, in the sense that interacting with them should not constitute a higher injury risk to humans than the interaction with another cautious human. This requires that robots with similar size and mass as the humans also have comparable power, strength, velocity and interaction compliance.

This project has main goal on the design of a new generation of robot actuator systems, capable of embodying the physical principles, which shape the robot behavior. The focus of the work will be on achieving different abilities, in particular:

·	Energy efficiency

·	Robustness to external perturbations and unpredictable model errors (changes) of the environment, of the robot kinematics and dynamics, or of the dynamics of a human interacting with;

·	Safety to humans in operations where the robot is required positional accuracy and swiftness of motion, while cooperating, physically interacting or even possibly colliding with the humans and their environment, such as e.g. in collaborative robotics.

The PostDoc will be responsible for the design, development and implementation of variable impedance actuator(s) so to fulfill the above requirements.

About the involved research institutes

The research will be carried out in the Control Engineering (CE) Laboratory of the faculty of

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EWI), which is embedded among other in the Institute of Mechanics Processes And Control Twente (IMPACT).

What we ask

A PhD degree with focus in robotics or mechatronics with demonstrated abilities in the fields of research described above: modeling and mechanical design. Good knowledge of the English language in written and spoken form. Ability to perform research individually and also work in a team.

What we offer

We offer a temporary contract for a period of 12 months in an interesting scientific environment. The minimum salary is € 2.861 gross per month and will depend on the relevant experience in this field of expertise and background.

In addition to this, we offer a holiday allowance (amounts to 8%), an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%, various sporting and cultural facilities at reduced rate, and a lot more facilities.

Applications

Please send your applications to: CEsecretary@ewi.utwente.nl and mention the number 10/039 (CE2010-13) of this vacancy before the 1st of June 2010.

The applications should include:

• A motivation letter

• A resume/bio

• Pointer to the most important publications and/or PhD thesis

• Recommendation letter(s)