Connectionists: [jobs] postdoc and PhD position on body schema modeling @CTU Prague

[Matej Hoffmann]

*

Dear colleagues,

there is a postdoc and PhD openingin the humanoid, cognitive, and 
neurorobotics group 
(https://cyber.felk.cvut.cz/research/groups-teams/humanoids/) 
coordinated by Dr. Matej Hoffmann 
(https://sites.google.com/site/matejhof/) at the Department of 
Cybernetics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical 
University in Prague.


The topics are in the context of a 5-year project entitled “Whole-body 
awareness for safe and natural interaction: from brains to collaborative 
robots” for excellence in fundamental research from the Czech Science 
Foundation (see https://cyber.felk.cvut.cz/news/new-gacr-expro-project 
<https://cyber.felk.cvut.cz/news/new-gacr-expro-project/>for more 
information) and include:

- Analysis and modeling of infant behavioral data related to reaching, 
reaching to the self, and mirror self-recognition

- Employing humanoid robots with artificial skin to construct embodied 
computational models of body and peripersonal space representations

- Neural network models of multisensory integration and peripersonal space

- Social human-robot interaction focusing on touch and interpersonal 
distance


Open positions:

Postdoc. The postdoc will independently conduct research and will also 
be involved in shaping the research of the group and supervising 
students. The gross salary will be in the range of CZK 50 000-70 000 per 
month (approx. 2000-2700 EUR) depending on qualification, plus direct 
bonuses for scientific achievements such as top-tier publications.


PhD student. The topic will be co-defined with the student depending on 
his skills and interests. The standard duration of the PhD study is 4 
years. The funding corresponds to a gross salary of CZK 45 000 per month 
(approx. 1750 EUR), plus direct bonuses for scientific achievements such 
as top-tier publications.


Robots and infrastructure

The humanoids group has at its disposal several humanoid robots (iCub, 2 
Naos - 1 with whole-body sensitive skin) and collaborative or 
lightweight manipulators (KUKA LBR iiwa, UR10e with Airskin, Kinova 
Gen3). Additional infrastructure includes several robot hands (Barrett 
Hand BH8-282, QB Soft Hand) and grippers, a 3D Motion Capture System, 
impact measuring devices, etc.  The group has also access to the 
facilities of the Research Center for Informatics such as a 
high-performance computational cluster.


International collaborations

There is a large group of international experts who have agreed to act 
as collaborators/advisors on the project. These include experts in

- developmental psychology: Dr. Kevin O’Regan (CNRS, Paris), Prof. 
Jeffrey J. Lockman (Tulane University, New Orleans)

- cognitive psychology and neuroscience: Prof. Matthew Longo (Birkbeck 
University, London), Prof. Tobias Heed (Bielefeld), Prof. Andrea Serino 
(University of Lausanne), Dr. Jean-Paul Noel (Center for Neural Science 
at New York University), Drs. M.Gori and Giulia Cappagli (Italian 
Institute of Technology, Dr. S. Signorini (IRCSS Fondazione Mondino Pavia)

- physical human-robot interaction: Prof. Sami Haddadin (TU Munich),  
Dr. Arash Ajoudani (Italian Institute of Technology), Dr. Michael 
Zillich (Blue Danube Robotics – manufacturer of Airskin)

- social human-robot interaction: Dr. Alessandra Sciutti (Italian 
Institute of Technology), Dr. Hagen Lehmann (University of Macerata)


Prague

There is currently a very lively international ecosystem in the areas of 
robotics and AI - at the Department and in Prague in general. See, for 
example, http://rci.cvut.cz/or https://prg.ai/en/.


How to apply. The application should include:

-Motivation letter (max. 1 page)

- CV (including 2 reference persons)

-1 Letter of recommendation (can be from 1 of the reference persons above)

Please send the applications or inquiries to 
matej.hoffmann at fel.cvut.czwith (“PhD application” or “postdoc 
application” in the subject). The positions are open until filled.


Best regards,

Matej Hoffmann

*

-- 
Matej Hoffmann, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Cybernetics
Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Czech Technical University in Prague
https://sites.google.com/site/matejhof/home
+420 224 357 387

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