Research Assistant in Machine Learning for Aerial Swarms (Fixed Term)

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 9 months.
Applications are invited for a Research Assistant (RA) to join the Prorok Lab in the Department of Computer Science and Technology, at the University of Cambridge, UK.The Research Assistant will work together with a team of students and research collaborators on the development of learning-based control policies that facilitate the coordination of large-scale robot systems (ground and aerial). The ideal candidate will possess hands-on experience with designing and implementing reinforcement learning algorithms, and deploying them onto real robots. They will be working with a team composed of PhD students, Research Assistants and Postdocs that is developing novel multi-robot architectures for practical, real-world settings. Current solutions to many of the coordination challenges use simplifying assumptions and simulated operational environments to achieve success. Our team is pushing these assumptions to their limits, with the aim to break the barrier to real-world and outdoor deployments with large robot teams. As a result, we need to design systems and algorithms that are robust and resilient, while also offering scalability to larger swarms and highly dynamic environments. The RA will also lead in-field testing and deployments. Therefore, we require someone with excellent implementation skills, and substantial experience with real robot deployments.
The Prorok Lab in the Dept. of Computer Science & Technology, has a variety of robotic platforms (aerial and ground), and boasts expertise in controlling and deploying them in practice, as well as in designing coordination strategies for them. Our recent work on RL and graph neural networks (GNNs) demonstrate some of our key research directions relevant for this position. A high degree of self-motivation, research-oriented thinking, and a drive for getting real robotic systems up and running are all essential traits for this position.
The Department of Computer Science and Technology is an academic department that encompasses computer science along with many aspects of engineering, technology and mathematics. We have a world wide reputation for academic research with consistent top research ratings. The Department has an open and collaborative culture, supporting revolutionary fundamental computer science research, strong cross-cutting collaborations internally and externally, and ideas which transform computing outside the University.
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Please quote reference NR46362 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.
The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.
The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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