项目介绍

2025年4月29日

Would you like to work with mobile robots and make them cooperate in a secure manner? Then consider this PhD project on secure interaction-aware robot coordination! 

Job description

Imagine a future where teams of autonomous robots seamlessly assist in vital missions, from environmental monitoring to infrastructure support. This PhD project offers you the chance to create the foundational framework for this reality. You will develop cutting-edge algorithms that enable robots to:

• Navigate intelligently and safely alongside humans and other robots in dynamic spaces.
• Collaborate effectively by sharing crucial information while safeguarding security and privacy.
• Detect and overcome challenges, including potential malicious interference, ensuring reliable operation.
• Learn and adapt to diverse environments and interaction needs.

Your research will blend robotics, control theory, and computer science, using methods like risk-aware planning, machine learning, game theory and/or secure communication techniques.

You’ll have the opportunity to test your innovative solutions on real robot platforms, such as drones and mobile manipulators. This is a chance to make a tangible impact on the safety, security, and real-world deployment of autonomous systems.

You will be co-supervised by Prof. Javier Alonso-Mora and Prof. Laura Ferranti, benefiting from their complementary expertise in multi-robot coordination and reliable control. As part of the Cognitive Robotics department, you will have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge research in a dynamic and interdisciplinary environment, collaborate with leading researchers in the field, have access to excellent research facilities and robotic platforms, and have opportunities for personal and professional development through conferences, workshops, and university graduate school courses.

The project is expected to contribute to open-source code and result in publications in robotics, control, or machine learning conferences and journals.

More information about our research groups can be found at:

Job requirements

• A Master’s degree in Robotics, Control Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• A strong background in mathematics, control theory, and/or robotics.
• Experience with programming (e.g., Python, C++).
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
• Strong motivation for research and the ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Good communication skills in English.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Mechanical Engineering

From chip to ship. From machine to human being. From idea to solution. Driven by a deep-rooted desire to understand our environment and discover its underlying mechanisms, research and education at the ME faculty focusses on fundamental understanding, design, production including application and product improvement, materials, processes and (mechanical) systems.

ME is a dynamic and innovative faculty with high-tech lab facilities and international reach. It’s a large faculty but also versatile, so we can often make unique connections by combining different disciplines. This is reflected in ME’s outstanding, state-of-the-art education, which trains students to become responsible and socially engaged engineers and scientists. We translate our knowledge and insights into solutions to societal issues, contributing to a sustainable society and to the development of prosperity and well-being. That is what unites us in pioneering research, inspiring education and (inter)national cooperation.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Do you want to experience working at our faculty? These videos will introduce you to some of our researchers and their work.

Conditions of employment

• Duration of contract is 4 years. Temporary.A job of 36-40 hours per week. 
• A salary based on Promovendus of the CAO for Dutch Universities with a salary between €2901 – €3707 gross per month based on a fulltime contract (38 hours), plus 8% holiday allowance and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.  
• An excellent pension scheme via the ABP. 
• The possibility to compile an individual employment package every year. 
• Discount with health insurers on supplemental packages. 
• Flexible working week. 
• Every year, 232 leave hours (at 38 hours). You can also sell or buy additional leave hours via the individual choice budget. 
• Plenty of opportunities for education, training and courses. 
• Partially paid parental leave 
• Attention for working healthy and energetically with the vitality program. 

Additional information

If you would like more information about this vacancy or the selection procedure, please contact j.alonsomora@tudelft.nl or  l.ferranti@tudelft.nl.

Application procedure

Interested candidates are invited to submit their application, including a CV, a motivation letter outlining their research interests and suitability for the project, academic transcripts, link to download the MSc thesis (draft) or some other publication or report by the candidate, and contact information for at least two references.

Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 12 May 2025 via the application button and upload the following documents:

• CV
• Motivational letter
• Outlining their research interests and suitability for the project
• Academic transcripts
• Link to download the MSc thesis (draft) or some other publication or report by the candidate
• Contact information for at least two references

You can address your application to Prof. J. Alonso-Mora.

Please note:

• You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post. 
• A pre-employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.
• For the final candidates, a knowledge security check will be part of the application procedure. For more information on this check, please consult Chapter 8 of the National Knowledge Security Guidelines. We carry out this check on the basis of legitimate interest.
• Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.