Connectionists: Call for Applications

[Jan Peters]

Robotics & Machine Learning Positions
===============================

The Intelligent Autonomous Systems Labs (IAS) at the Technical University
of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) is seeking for several

*highly qualified postdoctoral researchers.*

(exceptionally talented Ph.D. students will also be considered)
with strong interest in one or more of the following research
topics:

* Robot Learning (especially Robot Reinforcement Learning,
Imitation, and Model Learning)
* Robot Grasping and Manipulation
* Robot Control, Learning for Control
* Robot Table Tennis

Please relate clearly to these topic in your Research Statement.
Note that we currently can only consider PhD students with real
robot experience (for post-docs, we are more open-minded).

Outstanding students and researchers from the areas of robotics and
robotics-related areas including machine learning, control engineering
or computer vision are welcome to apply. The candidates are expected
to conduct independent research and at the same time contribute to
ongoing projects in the areas listed above. Successful candidates can
furthermore be given the opportunity to work with undergraduate, M.Sc.
and Ph.D. students.

Due to our strong ties to the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent
Systems, many companies (ABB, Bosch Centre for AI, Honda Research
Institute, Intel, NVIDEA NVAIL, Porsche Motor Sports, VW AI Lab, etc)
there will be ample opportunities of collaboration with these institutes.



ABOUT THE APPLICANT
Ph.D. position applicants need to have a Master's degree in a
relevant field (e.g., Robotics, Computer Science, Engineering,
Statistics & Optimization,  Math and Physics) and have exhibited
their ability to perform research in either robotics or machine
learning.

A successful Post-doc applicant should have a strong robotics and/or
machine learning background with a track record of top-tier research
publications, including relevant conferences (e.g., RSS, ICRA, IROS or
ICML, IJCAI, AAAI, NIPS, AISTATS) and journals (e.g., AURO, TRo,
IJRR or JMLR, MLJ, Neural Computation) . A Ph.D. in Computer Science,
Electrical or Mechanical Engineering (or another field clearly related
to robotics and/or machine learning) as well as strong organizational
and coordination skills are a must.

Expertise in working with real robot systems is a big plus for all
applicants.



THE POSITIONS
The positions are started with a 24 months contract and may be
extendable up to 48 months. Payment will be according to the German
TVL E-13 or E-14 payment scheme, depending on the candidates
experience and qualifications.



HOW TO APPLY?
All complete applications submitted through our online application
system found at

http://www.ias.tu-darmstadt.de/Jobs/Application

will be considered. There is no fixed deadline: the positions will be
filled as soon as possible. Ph.D. applicants should provide at least a
research statement, a PDF with their CV, degrees, and grade-sheets,
and two references who are willing to write a recommendation letter.
PostDoc applicants require three references and, in addition,  should
provide their top three publications. Please ensure to include a link
to your research web-site as well as your date of availability.



ABOUT IAS
The Intelligent Autonomous Systems Lab (IAS) aims at endowing robots with
the ability to learn new tasks and adapt their behavior to their
environment. To accomplish this goal, IAS focuses on the intersection
between Machine Learning, Robotics and Biomimetic Systems. Resulting
research topics range from algorithm development in machine learning
over robot grasping/manipulation and robot table tennis to biomimetic
motor control/learning and brain-robot interfaces. Members of CLAS and IAS
have been highly successful, as exhibited by recent awards, which include a
Daimler Benz Fellowship, several Best Cognitive Robotics Paper Awards, the
Georges Giralt Best 2013 Robotics PhD Thesis Award, an IEEE RAS Early
Career Award, etc. The lab collaborates with numerous universities in
Germany, Europe, the USA and Japan. IAS is partner in several
European projects with many top institutes in ML and Robotics..

Our lab member have been *EXCEPTIONALLY* successful. All our former postdocs
have been offered faculty positions and five of our 14 graduated PhD
students have taken on faculty jobs.

The IAS lab is located in the Robert Piloty Building in the beautiful
Herrngarten park. It is less than fifty meters from a beer garden
frequently used for lab meetings and after successful paper submissions.


ABOUT TU DARMSTADT
The TU Darmstadt is one of the top technical universities in
Germany, and is well known for its research and teaching. It was
one of the first universities in the world to introduce programs in
electrical engineering. our chemical elements were discovered at
Darmstadt, most prominently, the element darmstadtium, and it is
Germany's first fully autonomous university. More information can be
found on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmstadt_University_of_Technology


ABOUT DARMSTADT
Darmstadt is well known high-tech center with important activities in
space craft operations (e.g., through the European Space Operations
Centre, the European Organization for Exploitation of Meteorological
Satellites), chemistry, pharmacy, information technology,
biotechnology, telecommunications and mechatronics, and consistently
ranked among the top high-tech regions in Germany. Darmstadt's
important centers for arts, music and theatre allow for versatile
cultural activities, while the proximity of the Odenwald forest and
the Rhine valley allows for many outdoor sports.

The 33,547 students of Darmstadt's three universities constitute a
major part of Darmstadt's 140,000 inhabitants. Darmstadt's immigrant
population is among the most diverse in Germany, such that the
knowledge of German language is rarely ever needed (and many IAS
members do not speak *any* German).
Darmstadt is located close to the center of Europe. With just 17
Minutes driving distance to the Frankfurt airport (closer than
Frankfurt itself), it is one of best connected cities in Europe. Most
major European cities can be reached within less than 2.5h from
Darmstadt.