PhD position: Autonomous engineering systems and autonomous motion control by The Control System group features Autonomous Motion Control Lab
Current and future developments in control systems, data science, and artificial intelligence are expected to create major breakthroughs in the role that engineering systems play in our society. Engineering autonomous systems, such as smart robots, manufacturing systems and autonomous vehicles, will lead to system capabilities that are beyond our current imagination. The development of autonomous and intelligent systems that are capable of learning to perform interactive decision-making tasks has necessitated the design of control systems and algorithms capable of autonomously achieving complex missions.
The project aims to develop and implement smart control solutions in engineering autonomous systems, with a particular focus on intelligent and autonomous motion control, that is to be realized on autonomous cars (for improving autonomous driving) and drones (for improving autonomous navigation and flying).
The Control System (CS) group features Autonomous Motion Control (AMC) Lab which consists of multiple UAVs, ground vehicles, and motion tracking facilities. The AMC Lab provides an ideal testbed for testing and implementation of novel intelligent control solutions in autonomous vehicles and drone platforms from this project.
Main research directions
- Design and develop autonomous engineering systems, with applications to autonomous vehicles and robotics.
- Develop smart control algorithms (e.g., AI-enabled control, data-driven control, vision-based control) that improve autonomy in real-life engineering systems.
- Develop testing platforms for emerging techniques to advance engineering autonomous system applications (e.g., cyber-physical systems, digital twin techniques).
- Validate and evaluate algorithms in the Autonomous Motion Control (AMC) lab.
Job requirements
For the PhD position in this project, a candidate with a MSc degree in Systems and Control, Electrical Engineering, Artificial intelligence (AI), or Mechanical Engineering will be selected and hired as a doctoral student in the Control Systems Group for a 4-year period. The candidate should have the following competences:
- You are a talented and enthusiastic young researcher.
- You have a strong background in control systems courses.
- Strong academic background and rich experiences in engineering systems, embedded systems, and system design.
- Good programming skills in Matlab/Simulink and/or Python.
- Experience with ROS, embedded programming, hardware interface design in robotic platforms is highly desirable.
- A team-player with excellent communication and cooperation skills in a multi-partner and multi-disciplinary project environment.
- You are creative and ambitious, hard-working and persistent.
- Ability to independently organize your work.
- Good scientific writing skills.
- Strong command of the English language (knowledge of Dutch is not required).
Conditions of employment
- A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university with the possibility to present your work at international conferences.
- A full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months.
- To develop your teaching skills, you will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
- To support you during your PhD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will make a Training and Supervision plan and you will have free access to a personal development program for PhD students (PROOF program).
- A gross monthly salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities.
- Additionally, an annual holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary, plus a year-end allowance of 8.3% of the annual salary.
- Should you come from abroad and comply with certain conditions, you can make use of the so-called ‘30% facility’, which permits you not to pay tax on 30% of your salary.
- A broad package of fringe benefits, including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, and savings schemes.
- Family-friendly initiatives are in place, such as an international spouse program, and excellent on-campus children day care and sports facilities.
Information and application
For more information about the project, please contact dr. Zhiyong Sun (z.sun[a]tue.nl) and/or
dr. Sofie Haesaert (s.haesaert[a]tue.nl).
For information about terms of employment, click here or contact HRServices.Flux[at]tue.nl.
Please visit www.tue.nl/jobs to find out more about working at TU/e.
Application
We invite you to submit a complete application by using the ‘apply now’-button on this page.
The application should include:
- A brief cover letter motivating your interest and suitability for the position.
- A detailed curriculum vitae including research experience, project experiences and/or any previous publications.
- Transcripts of academic records indicating courses taken (including grades).
- Half-page summary of your MSc thesis or full MSc thesis (preferred).
- Contact details of two relevant references (email, phone number).
We invite you to submit a complete application by using the ‘apply now’-button on this page.
The application should include a:
- Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position.
- Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references.
- Brief description of your MSc thesis.
We look forward to your application and will screen it as soon as we have received it. Screening will continue until the position has been filled.
We do not respond to applications that are sent to us in a different way.
Please keep in mind you can upload only 5 documents up to 2 MB each. If necessary, please combine files.