[agents] One postdoctoral and one PhD position in the new European project RUBICON (Robotic Ubiquitous Cognitive Networks), at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland

[Mauro Dragone]

University  College Dublin (UCD), Ireland, offers one Postdoctoral and one PhD  position within the European research project RUBICON (Robotic  UBIquitous COgnitive Network), starting from the 1st of April, 2011. The positions are within the CLARITY Centre for SensorWeb Technology group headed by Prof. Gregory M.P. O'Hare.
  With RUBICON, UCD will co-ordinate a world-leading consortium at the forefront of research in Cognitive Robotics and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) to create a self-learning robotic ecology consisting of a network of sensors, effectors and mobile robot devices.
  Enabling  robots to seamlessly operate as part of these robotic ecologies is an  important challenge for robotics R&D, in order to support  applications such as ambient assisted living, environmental monitoring,  and security. 
  Current  approaches heavily rely on models of the environment and on human  configuration and supervision and lack the ability to smoothly adapt to  evolving situations. These limitations make these systems still hard and  costly to install and maintain in real world applications, as they must  be tailored to the specific environment and constantly updated to suit  changes in both the environments and in the applications where they are  applied.
  In  contrast, a RUBICON ecology will be able to teach itself its  environment and learn to improve the way it carries out different tasks.  The participants to a RUBICON ecology will mutually support one  another’s learning, in order to identify, commission and fulfil tasks  more effectively and efficiently. To achieve this, the RUBICON project will  combine robotics, multi-agent systems, novelty detection, dynamic  planning, statistical and computational neuroscience methods, efficient  component & data abstraction, and robot/WSN middleware. Validation  will take place using two application scenarios.
  The Work:  The research work in both positions will be performed in collaboration  with the partners of the RUBICON project, and will focus specifically on  deliberation and control, with an emphasis on learning in multi-agent  systems. Specific research directions will include middleware services  for introspection, adaptive goal deliberation and plan selection, and  how hard and soft AI reasoning methods can be integrated to achieve  self-sustaining, continuous learning.  
  In  addition to working towards his/her PhD thesis, the enrolled PhD  student's work will require collaboration with our European partners,  which is expected to include research visits abroad. 
  Background required:  The successful PhD applicant is expected to possess a strong background  in computer science and specifically artificial intelligence. Knowledge  in robotics and/or learning in multiagent systems is a plus. 
  Workplace: University College Dublin (UCD, http://www.ucd.ie) is the largest Irish university, with over 20,000 registered students, and  one of the world's top 100 universities. Innovative  research is a priority for the university and it enjoys a very  successful, vibrant research community active across all discipline. It  has exhibited substantial research activity in agent, robotics, and  wireless sensor network related areas through its participation in  several Irish, International and EC funded projects
  Both  positions are based at the CLARITY Centre for SensorWeb Technologies  (http://www.clarity-centre.org). The centre, with administrative  headquarters at UCD, is among the largest research centres in Sensor Web  technologies worldwide with a strong focus on sensor system  communications, data processing and intelligent algorithms for decision  making. Researchers  come from a dozen different countries, in Europe and worldwide, and  have different scientific and cultural backgrounds.  CLARITY also  frequently hosts international researchers and is involved in several  international projects. 
  Interested  candidates should send a detailed curriculum vitae, letter of  application, copies of relevant university transcripts/most relevant  publications and for non native English speakers evidence of English  Language competence (TOEFL, IELTS) to mauro.dragone at ucd.ie. 
  These positions are available from the 1st of April or as soon thereafter as possible.
  Informal inquiries can be made by email to Mauro Dragone (mauro.dragone at ucd.ie).
  Mauro Dragone, PhD 
 CLARITY Centre for SensorWeb Technology
 School of Computer Science and Informatics
 University College Dublin (UCD)
 Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
 Tel: +353 (0)1 716 2491
 E-mail: mauro.dragone at ucd.ie
 Web: http://www.clarity-centre.org