Research Associate in Soft and Resilient Machines

The post provides a rare opportunity to contribute to research and development of transformative soft-matter resilient machines which can withstand damage and conditions disturbances. This project proposes an approach for resilient machines that uniquely unifies three lines of research: soft-matter engineering, autonomous systems, and chemical engineering.

This post is funded by EPSRC, under the New Horizons scheme, and brings together researchers in Robotics, Chemical Engineering and Neuroscience from the University of Sheffield and University of Southern California. The candidate for the post should hold a PhD (or be close to completion) in any relevant area of robotics, soft robotics, and should have a strong knowledge of experimental implementation of soft-matter fabrication or/and control. Experience in chemical engineering is a plus. The researcher will contribute with publications and develop demonstrations of the methods developed. The Research Associate will join an internationally-renowned research group in biomedical and soft robotics (https://sites.google.com/site/danadamian), and will contribute to the reputation of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering Department as the leading department in systems and control.

● Design, model and develop fluidic soft-matter devices and/or smart materials.
● Develop and implement fluidic-based control systems.
● Perform evaluation of the robotic platform on the benchtop.
● Collaborate with the internal and overseas collaborators of the EPSRC project on design principles, methodology implementation and development of use cases and demonstrator development, test the developed system and obtain feedback from stakeholders.
● Report research results quarterly to the advisory board of this EPSRC project.
● Write high quality journal papers, research reports, progress reports, and meet any other reporting obligations.
● Prepare and give presentations, reporting research results and related work.
● Coordinate and liaise with other members of the research group over work progress.
● Develop and test hardware and software regularly to achieve required project objectives.
● Assist in the supervision of undergraduate, Masters and PhD projects in related areas.
● As a member of staff you will be encouraged to make ethical decisions in your role, embedding the University sustainability strategy into your working activities wherever possible.
Any other duties, commensurate with the grade of the post.

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