Italy
Project: “ROBOT INSPECTION ASSISTITA DI ATTREZZATURE A PRESSIONE (RIAP)” (Robot Assisted Inspection of Pressure Equipment (RIAP)) in partnership with INAIL

WHO WE ARE

At IIT we work enthusiastically to develop human-centered Science and Technology to tackle some of the most pressing societal challenges of our times and transfer these technologies to the production system and society. Our Genoa headquarters are strictly inter-connected with the other 11 centers around Italy and two outstations based in the US for a truly interdisciplinary experience.

YOUR TEAM

The VICARIOS Lab is part of the Advanced Robotics research unit, directed by Prof. Darwin Caldwell. This large department focuses on an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to robot design and control, and the development of novel robotic components and technologies for applications in medical, surgical, and rehabilitation robotics, exoskeletons and force augmentation, manipulation and dexterous manipulators, telepresence and teleoperation, industrial automation and robotics, active perception and learning, inspection robotics, hyper-redundant robots, robot dynamics and “fast” robot and robots for hazardous environments.
You will be working in a multi-disciplinary group, where researchers from a range of scientific and engineering backgrounds collaborate to create novel solutions to key problems in robotics.
The position is within the VICARIOS lab, coordinated by Dr. Yonas Tefera. This is an inter-disciplinary group, with experts in human-computer interaction, VR/AR, telepresence, control modeling, biomechanical simulations, and human factors. The research outcomes are targeted at simplifying the lives of human operators (industrial workers, emergency responders, frontline workers) through advances in HCI paradigms. The project aims at the development and integration of technologies in immersive 3D user interaction experience for tele-locomotion and tele-manipulation for field robots.
The candidates will build on the recent results achieved in successfully using mixed reality interfaces for remote robotic teleoperation, improving the performance of the user in task execution. The goal is to design and develop novel approaches in teleoperation to assist a teleoperator in controlling an autonomous and/or semi-autonomous self-propelled robotic platform capable of inspecting pressure equipment, providing the operator with remote supervision in complete safety, with the teleoperator immersed in a mixed reality environment. On the teleoperator side, high performance pilot devices will be used e.g., Force Dimension Omega.7, HAPTION Virtuose 6D RV, HTC Vive VR Pro eye, meta quest pro, Varjo XR-4 etc. On the robot side, robotic manipulators include SUMMIT-XL MOBILE ROBOT, Franka Emika Panda, etc. The candidate should have proficiency in dexterous telemanipulation and a strong portfolio of practical projects. A background in applied machine learning in the robotic teleoperation context (full teleoperation vs. shared autonomy) will be highly appreciated.
The successful candidates will take a leading role in organizing the research and development activities in the assigned tasks and accomplishing high quality publications and live demonstrations.
We are looking for dynamic, motivated researchers with a PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, Engineering, or other fields and proven expertise in telerobotic systems, robotic programming, and applied machine learning.

Please refer the Job description for details