Division/School School of Computer Science, Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Engineering Maths
Contract type Open Ended
Working pattern Full time
Salary £33,199 - £37,345
Closing date for applications 23-Jun-2019

The University of Bristol invites applications for two immediate positions in Robotics and/or Computational Neuroscience.

The successful candidate will be part of a multi-disciplinary team on a Leverhulme-funded Research Leadership Award ‘A biomimetic forebrain for robot touch’. We have been awarded funds for 4 postdocs and a technician on a 5-year project that will apply leading robotics, artificial intelligence and neuroscience to develop a biomimetic forebrain embodied on 3D-printed tactile robot hand to enable human-like manipulation.

This advertisement is for 2 Postdoctoral Research Associate positions on Robotics and/or Computational Neuroscience. These research position will complement two other postdoctoral researchers and a technician on the AI of robot touch and computational modelling of the forebrain system who collectively will embody the model on the robots.

The project has four main objectives and we are looking to complement existing expertise in these areas:

1. To implement and test biomimetic algorithms for active touch with tactile fingertips and tactile robot hands, aiming to perform general tactile performance with near-human dexterity
2. To construct a systems-level model of the mammalian forebrain that captures the mechanisms underlying active touch in animals, building upon established neuroscience models that have the capability to achieve tasks in tactile robotics
3. To compare human and robot touch; also, to interpret active touch capabilities in terms of modern views of sensorimotor theory and embodied cognition.
4. To build state-of-the-art tactile robots using multi-material 3D printing to make tactile fingertips and skin that we will integrate with leading 3D-printed robot hands.

The project will be based at the University of Bristol and Bristol Robotics Laboratory (www.brl.ac.uk) the largest center for multi-disciplinary robotics research in the UK.

You will hold (or will be expected to obtain soon) a strong PhD in a discipline relevant to the project. In addition to a strong research track record you will also have a proven capability to write first author publications accepted in the leading journals of the research field.

Further information about the Leverhulme Award (www.lepora.com/leverhulme/) and the activities of the research group (https://www.bristolroboticslab.com/tactile-robotics) can be found via these links.

Informal enquiries can be made to: Dr. Nathan Lepora (N.Lepora@bristol.ac.uk)

It is anticipated that interviews will take place in July 2019, and the anticipated start as soon as possible thereafter.

We appreciate and value difference, seeking to attract, develop and retain a diverse mix of talented people that will contribute to the overall success of Bristol and help maintain our position as one of the world’s leading universities.