Saturday, October 15, 2011

Doctoral (PhD) student in mechanical engineering at Rice University

Major technical challenges impede the effectiveness of modeling and simulation of novel robot designs. The NSF CPS project on Robot Design develops foundations and tools for overcoming these challenges. The project focuses on issues relating to improving hybrid modeling formalisms demonstrating the physical validity of models developed in this formalism.  The project is a close collaboration between Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering at Rice University, Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M, and Halmstad University in Sweden, will develop and validate foundations, methods, and tools for the modeling and simulation of cyber-physical systems (CPS).

The project has an opening for doctoral (PhD) student with the MAHI lab at Rice University. The student will contribute to the project by using a new modeling language to model and validate the MAHI lab's upper-extremity exoskeleton robot (the RiceWrist).

Applicants must strong skills in dynamic systems and controls, including modeling, simulation, and hardware implementation.  Excellent communication and collaboration skills are required as the student will be expected to work closely with software team building the modeling language. Priority will be given to applicants with a masters in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering. Desirable experience includes mechanical hardware design and control experience, especially in the context of robotics and upper limb rehabilitation robots. Desirable skills include Mathematica, Maple, Matlab, Simulink, other modeling and simulation tools.

The student wil spend part of their time in Halmstad, Sweden (25%) as part of the collaboration.

Students can apply to enter the program either in January 2012 (deadline November 1, 2011) or August 2012 (deadline February 1, 2012). Applicants desiring Fall 2012 start will be encouraged to begin research in May/June 2012.  Application for this position is done through the on-line application form.