JOB DESCRIPTION

Challenge: How do we fuse and navigate complex and diverse musculoskeletal data to provide enhanced clinical perception and real-time robotic physical guidance of the patient’s knee, across all stages of assessment, surgery and rehabilitation?
Change: Develop novel biomechanics-informed robot control and sensing systems to revolutionise knee therapy.
Impact: Evaluate knee joint laxity and then optimize surgery and treatment to reduce laxity while permitting natural range of motion.
We are seeking a PhD researcher for a 4-year contract to advance physical human-robot control and sensing. One of the aims is to create a new robot controller that integrates a high-fidelity musculoskeletal model and navigates the biomechanical landscapes based on objectives such as maximising range of motion and minimising strain. Another aim is to design a knee implant sensing system that can augment and/or validate robot sensing. Together with a fellow PhD in biomechanical engineering, you will develop subject-specific tissue loading maps that describe how the structures in the knee are loaded during robot-assisted therapeutic exercises and gait.
Your project is funded by an Open Technology Programme grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) entitled “Biomechanics-aware real-time robotics for intelligent assistance of knee surgery and rehabilitation.”
You will be a member of the Human-Robot Collaboration Lab in Cognitive Robotics and the Computational Biomechanics Lab in BioMechanical Engineering. You will be supervised by assistant professor Luka Peternel and associate professor Ajay Seth and work with BSc/MSc students and other PhD candidates in their research groups and collaborations with other departments at TU Delft, Erasmus MC, and Leiden UMC.
Opportunities for growing your academic career will be available, such as mentoring BSc/MSc Students, conference presentations, networking, and teaching.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

You should have:

• An MSc in engineering or similar discipline by the start date of the position.
• Experience with the control of physical human-robot interaction.
• Proficiency with at least one programming language (e.g., C++, Python, Matlab, etc.).
• A strong interest in combining robotics with biomechanics.
• Good written and oral communication skills in English.

The following aspects will help you stand out:

• Thriving in multidisciplinary environments.
• Creativity and ambition to conduct cutting-edge research.
• Self-motivation.
• Curiosity-driven working attitude.
• Experience with mechanical design.
• Knowledge of control systems, sensors, biomechanical modeling, and Robot Operating System (ROS).

Please refer the Job description for details