Job description
Job summary
This post is part of an ongoing major collaboration between Imperial College London (Civil & Environmental, Electrical & Electronic and Mechanical Engineering Departments) and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The aim of the project is to apply robotics to the field of geotechnical engineering. In particular, the project aims to develop and deploy a compact robotic system that can burrow into soil, making various measurements of the soil properties along the way. The project is highly multi-disciplinary, involving research on bio-inspired robotics, tribology, soil mechanics, sensor technologies and interpretation of large data sets.
The post holder will lead the electrical engineering elements of the project, including work on sensors, signal conditioning electronics, and communications with the robot when it is underground. The post-holder will work closely with the other members of the project team at Imperial College and there will be regular meetings with the researchers at Georgia Tech.
Duties and responsibilities
• Contribute to the development of the overall robotic system design
• Lead on the system level and detailed design of the robot electronics
• Where commercial sensors are available, identify the most suitable devices for integration into the robot
• Where necessary, develop and characterise new sensing approaches
• Validate the performance of the chosen sensors in the laboratory
• Lead on integration of the chosen sensors into the robot
• Prepare presentations for delivery at project review meetings
• Produce journal and conference publications from the research
• Provide management and leadership for more junior members of Imperial College who may become involved in the project, such as PhD students
• Undertake teaching duties within the Department as required.
• Perform any other duties commensurate with the grade of the post as directed by your line manager
Essential requirements
Candidates should hold a first degree in Engineering or Physical Sciences and hold, or be near completion of, a PhD (or equivalent) in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics or a related discipline.
Experience in any of the following areas will be helpful: sensor development; acoustics / ultrasonics; electronic circuit design; signal conditioning electronics. The successful candidate will have a good knowledge of the principles underlying various physical sensors, in particular sensors for temperature, pressure, moisture content and elastic moduli.
Further information
The post is available from 1st September 2020 and the appointment is until 31st May 2022. The post is based in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Imperial College London (South Kensington Campus).
Informal enquiries about the post can be made to Professor Andrew Holmes (a.holmes@imperial.ac.uk)
To apply, please visit our website: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/ You will find this vacancy by searching either the position title or job number: ENG01278. Please ensure you include a completed application form with your submission.
Should you have any queries about the application process please contact Ms Susan Brace (s.brace@imperial.ac.uk). For technical issues when applying online, please contact: erecruitment@imperial.ac.uk
*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as a Research Assistant within the salary range £35,477 – £38,566
The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering has a strong commitment to conducting internationally competitive and innovative research. Its primary scientific interest is in fundamental research with numerous applications to the environment, healthcare, information and communications technology, industry and energy. The academic staff of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) have wide-ranging expertise in Circuits and Systems, Communications and Signal Processing, Control and Power, Intelligent Systems and Networks, and Optical and Semiconductor Devices.
Imperial College London is a science-based institution with the greatest concentration of high-impact research of any major UK university. The Faculty of Engineering, consistently rated among the best in the world, is made up of 10 academic departments and is committed to increasing its research activity by focusing on engineering-led multidisciplinary growth areas that target a number of global challenges. All of our academic departments are located on a single campus in South Kensington, giving a concentration of talent that creates a stimulating and vibrant research community. You can find out more about our staff benefits, including generous annual leave entitlements and our excellent professional development opportunities on our webpages.
The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level. http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research/
