Department of Automation and Systems Technology* is a part Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering. The Micro- and  Nanorobotics Group at the department conducts academic research and education in the field of micro- and nanorobotics, an emerging and rapidly growing multidisciplinary field that crosses the domains of robotics, micro- and nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence, and involves aspects of physics, surface science, and biology. The applications of micro- and nanorobotics covers wide fields of biotechnology and micro- and nanotechnology as well as research tools and manufacturing technologies.

*Remark: Department of Automation and Systems Technology will be part of the new Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation from 1.1.2014.

Doctoral student in automatic micro- and nanorobotic manipulation

Aalto University Department of Automation and Systems Technology invites applications for doctoral students at the Micro- and Nanorobotics group.

We are looking for talented students to investigate, design, and develop next generation of highly-automated micro- and nanorobotic systems with frontier applications in biological cell manipulation and microassembly. To achieve better performance and reliability beyond today’s micro- and nanorobots, both robotic hardware as well as perception and control algorithms needs to be improved to better treat the manipulation uncertainties in the micro- and nano world.

We expect the student be willing to pursue interdisciplinary research, going beyond the boundary of the main field he or she has studied. Depending on the background and interests of the student, he or she will contribute to a selection of the tasks such as: design and implementation of microrobotic mechatronics with both conventional machining and 3D printing, fabrication of micro- and nano structures and tools in cleanroom, design of perception algorithms for microrobotic control, design of automation algorithms including machine learning and implement the algorithm in a software architecture, and experimental tests for validating and improving the developed hardware and algorithms in applications including biological cell manipulation and micro- and nanosystem assembly.

The research topic will be specifically defined based on the background of the student and the mutual interests of the candidate and the research group after acceptance. The candidate will be closely supervised and also involve dynamic interactions with other members of the group and international collaborators.

The student should have recently received, or is expected to finalize within a few months, a Master’s degree in mechatronics, robotics and/or automation, micro- and nanotechnology, or other related fields. Strong programming skill is expected, computer science studies are a plus. We also value minor studies in physics or biology, and previous experience in practical experimental projects. In general, we expect that the student has excellent study record, strong interests in academic career, eager to work hands-on, open-minded, and willing to collaborate with others.

The student will receive a salary determined according to the salary system of Aalto University, adjusted in relation to the progress of the student. The doctoral student is expected to complete the dissertation in around four years, including 40 credits of course study. The employment will be one year full-time for the first contract, which can be extended to cover the rest of the doctoral study. The applicant for the position should send the application to quan.zhou@aalto.fi with subject “Application for doctoral student 2013SAS71 Surname” by 31.12.2013. The following attachments (if applicable) should be enclosed in the email in PDF file format, with total size below 10 MB. If the size is greater, please use a cloud service (e.g. Dropbox, SkyDrive) and provide a download link.

• Cover letter on personal background, motivation for the application, goal of the doctoral study, and a list of content
• Curriculum vitae (CV)  including a list of publications, detailed contact information, and contact information of two reference persons
• Official transcript of study records and degree certificates (if not received in Finland, a certificated English translation)
• Bachelor and Master theses
• Scientific publications (papers)
• Other diplomas, certificates and documents that the applicant wishes to refer to

Please name your documents in the following format:

• Surname_GivenName_coverletter.pdf
• Surname_GivenName_CV.pdf
• Surname_GivenName_certificates.pdf
• Surname_GivenName_B.Sc.Thesis.pdf
• Surname_GivenName_M.Sc.Thesis.pdf
• Surname_GivenName_ publications.pdf
• Surname_GivenName_other_diplomas.pdf

Some previous activity of the Micro- and Nanorobotics group, Department of Automation and Systems Technology, School of Electrical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland can be found at http://autsys.aalto.fi/en/MicroNanorobotics.

We may contact you and request additional materials after reviewing your application. For further information, please contact the leading professor of Micro- and Nanorobotics Group, Dr. Quan Zhou, email quan.zhou@aalto.fi.