Postdoctoral in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Vill du utveckla din forskning och undervisning i en miljö där samverkan med industri och samhälle är en självklarhet? Hos oss får du arbeta med engagerade kollegor, tillgång till modern forskningsinfrastruktur och goda möjligheter att attrahera extern finansiering. Du ges utrymme att göra verklig skillnad för dina studenter, din forskning och samhället i stort.

The research group robotics and artificial intelligence at Luleå University of Technology conducts research in field robotics and tests its methods on robots in real environments. Now we are looking for a postdoctoral doctor who will develop sensory and autonomy for drones inspecting infrastructure and terrain in Arctic environments such as Greenland. There are the flights in severe cooling. You will work with sensor systems that can withstand the cold and with the methods of positioning, mapping and assignment planning based on them. We value good cooperation skills and an interest in field work in cold climates.

Ämnesbeskrivning

Robotics and artificial intelligence aim to develop new robot systems characterized by advanced autonomy to improve the ability of the robots to interact with the surroundings and people during the performance of specific tasks.

Projektbeskrivning

The research group robotics and artificial intelligence (RAI) belongs to the Department of System and Space Technology. The group participated in Darpa Subterranean Challenge with the Costar team under the guidance of NASA / JPL. Its applications include, inter alia, robotics for mining, airborne inspection of aging infrastructure, autonomy for space robotics and search and rescue operations with several robots. More information can be found on https://www.ltu.se/robotics.

With drones, it is possible to inspect infrastructure and terrain in the Arctic without sending out staff in dangerous environment, but the cold affects the hardware that the drones depend on. Batteries Losing capacity, ice is formed on optics and propellers, and lids and cameras provide inferior data in snow reef, fog and low standing sun. On high magnetic latitudes, it cannot be rely on the magnetometer for course determination, and GNSS reception can be limited in fjords and steep terrain. The service will develop sensory and autonomy that works under such conditions, with drönarinspektion in environments such as Greenland as the main application.

The research will focus on one or more of the following areas.

• Design, characterization and calibration of cold-resistant sensor systems for drones, such as lids, radar, heat cameras, event cameras and inertia sensors
• State taxation and mapping with multiple sensor types that take into account deteriorated sensor data, for example in snow, fog, textury surfaces and unreliable GNSS or magnetometer data
• Monitoring the safety of the sensors and error detection, so that autonomy can detect when a sensor is no longer able to trust and adapt to it
• Energy and weather conscious assignment planning for inspection flights, taking into account how batteries behave in cold and to wind
• Autonomous inspection of infrastructure and terrain in the Arctic environment, with field trials in cold climates, for example on Greenland and in northern Sweden

Tasks

The tasks of a postdoctoral doctor are mainly research. The research has a significant experimental part with work on real drones and field trials in cold climates, which means travel. The results will be published in international scientific journals with college examination and at major conferences. The service also includes contributing to the supervision of doctoral students and master students and to participate in the work on applications for research funds from research financiers, the EU framework program and industry. Teaching can be included in a maximum of one fifth of the working hours.

Qualifications

To be authorized for employment, a doctoral degree or equivalent foreign degree in robotics, control technology, computer science, electrical engineering or related subject is required. It is merit if your degree is exhausted for a maximum of three years before the last application date for this employment. If there are special reasons, it may be considered as a doctoral degree earlier, for example, at different types of statutory leave.

You should have good knowledge in state tax, sensor fusion or perception for robots and documented experience of experimental work with drones. Previous work with experimentally verified results within at least one of the research areas above is a requirement. You should also have good programming skills in C ++ and Python as well as experience with rose or rose 2. Since you will present the group's work in Sweden and internationally, good ability to express you in speech and writing is required in English.

It is merit if you have experience of sensor integration and hardware for drones, of perception with lids, radar or thermal camera, field trials in cold or demanding environments or by autonomous inspection assignments.

Information

The employment is a time-limited employment as a full-time postdoctoral for two years, with the possibility of extension to a maximum of three years. Service place is Luleå. Access as per agreement.

For each service, a preliminary https://www.ltu.se/om-universitetet/arbeta-hos-oss/att-soka-en-anstallning#h-Informationomlonetransparens is based on its requirements, responsibility and market situation.

For further information please contact

Professor Superior Topics George Nikolakopoulos, 0920-49 1298, geonik@ltu.se

Postdoctor Akash Patel, akash.patel@ltu.se.

https://www.ltu.se/om-universitetet/arbeta-hos-oss/att-soka-en-anstallning#h-Fackligakontaktpersoner

Application

We prefer to seek the position via the application button below. Attach personal letter, CV / Curriculum with publication list and copies of verified diplomas. Also attach a research plan to a maximum of two pages that describe how you want to attack one or more of the research areas above, as well as name and contact information to two reference persons. Please note your application with the reference number below. The application and diploma must be written in Swedish or English.

Last application day: 15 November, 2026

Reference number: 5204-2026