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Postdoc Researcher - Computational Topology applied to cloth representation and manipulation by robots (ERC CLOTHILDE)

Date of call

21/10/2017

Deadline

31/12/2017

Responsible

Carme Torras Genís

Type

Temporary

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Description

The "Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (IRI), CSIC-UPC", is seeking a Postdoc researcher to work under the framework of the European Project CLOTHILDE (ERC Advanced Grant 2016).

ABOUT IRI:
IRI is a Joint University Research Institute participated by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) that conducts research in human-centered robotics and automatic control. The institute, is a key player in the Spanish robotics and automatic control scenes, and a valued participant in a large number of international collaborations including more than ten ongoing H2020 projects and an ERC Advanced Grant. Recently, is has been recognized as a Maria de Maeztu Excellence Unit, the main accreditation given by the Spanish Government to research units that stand out for the impact and international relevance of their results.

ABOUT CLOTHILDE:
The European Project CLOTHILDE (Cloth manipulation learning from demonstration) is an ERC Advanced Grant, awarded to Dr. Carme Torras, to be started in January 2018.

The project aim is to establish the foundations of versatile cloth manipulation by robots. The theoretical ground will be to link machine learning and computational topology methods, so as to come up with a theory of cloth deformation under manipulation leading to a general framework for robots to learn to manipulate garments from human demonstrations. Such framework will encompass: non-expert teaching of a task, robot perception and skill learning, task-oriented cloth representation, probabilistic planning, robot task execution in varying initial conditions, failure diagnosis and informed requests for human help.

ABOUT THE POSTDOC POSITION
CLOTHILDE project has been structured into four research workpackages, plus one integration workpackage. The four packages are: Theory of cloth manipulation, Cloth perception and representation, Probabilistic task and motion planning, and Manipulation learning from demonstration.

This position corresponds to the Theory of cloth manipulation Workpackage and its connection with cloth representation and motion planning. The tasks to be carried out are:
1. Research on computational topology and tools
2. Definition of task-oriented topological cloth representations
3. Topological characterization of manipulation actions
4. Extraction of topological features from learned manifolds
5. Encoding manipulation-relevant features
6. Designing an action language based on cloth representation (one-handed, bimanual)

ABOUT THE CONTRACT
The postdoc will be supervised by Dr. Carme Torras and will be incorporated into the Perception and Manipulation Group of IRI.

She/he will be hired through a "CSIC FC3 contract" with a salary of 35743 € gross per year, and her/his incorporation will take place in 2018.
The duration of the contract will be of one year, extendable until the end of the project (2022).

Requirements

Knowledge: The candidate should be a doctor with a solid mathematical and computer science background.
Experience: The candidate should have experience in carrying out research in geometry and computational or algebraic topology, and with application to engineering problems, robotics, computer graphics, computer vision or related areas.
Languages: Fluent in English

Contacts

Please, send your documentation before 31/12/2017 to:

Email: jobs (at) iri.upc.edu
Address: C/ Llorens i Artigas 4-6, 2a planta. 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
Fax: 93 401 57 50
Note: Please, remember to reference the offer (ID-54) and include the following documentation: Cover letter, CV