[visionlist] Smart vision sensors for robotics: a multidisciplinary post-doctoral position

[Chiara Bartolozzi]

The Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - IIT (http://www.iit.it/)- was founded with the objective of promoting the country's technological development and further education in science and technology. In this sense, IIT's scientific program is based on the combination of the basic scientific research with the development of technical applications, a major inspirational principle. The research areas cover scientific topics of high innovative content, which represent the most advanced frontiers of modern technology, with wide application possibilities in various fields ranging from medicine to industry, from computer science to robotics, life sciences, and nanobiotechnology.
Research theme:
Smart vision sensors, instead of merely reproducing with high accuracy the visual scene, are capable of transducing the sensory signal in a way best suited to extract relevant information for behaviour. To build such types of sensors a growing community is taking inspiration from biological perceptive systems that show performance so far unreachable by artificial sensory systems. Mapping the characteristics of biological sensory perception onto artificial systems allows them to be inherently capable of better performances and, at the same time, be compact, low power, low cost, robust to noise and capable of adapting to ever changing working conditions, making these products suitable for real world real time applications.
The two groups of IIT proposing this theme (led by Dr. Chiara Bartolozzi and by Dr. Carlo Liberale, that will jointly supervise the scientific progress) respectively master the development of event-driven neuromorphic vision sensors for robotics and the technology to design and realize arrays of microlenses that can reproduce some of the characteristics of insects' compound eyes. The theme proposed for the available position blends the research of the two groups to develop a new type of smart vision system by realizing arrays of microlenses and applying them to event-driven vision sensors with specific topology for realizing space-variance. Two-photon lithography (TPL) fabrication will uniquely offer the full 3D control of the microlenses shape, with the possibility to create a different lens profile for each sensor pixel. This is an option which is not available with other known techniques for microlenses arrays fabrication, and will allow for an improvement of the optical properties of the imaging system (reduction of ghost images, increased contrast and light gathering capability).
The performance of the humanoid robot iCub, equipped with the newly vision system, will assess its quality and advantages. The PostDoc is in a crucial position for a truly multi-disciplinary work, spanning from optics to artificial vision and robotics, fostering the research collaboration between the iCub facility (http://www.iit.it/en/research/departments/icub-facility.html) and the Nanostructures Department (http://www.iit.it/en/research/departments/nanostructures.html).
The successful candidate holds a PhD degree in physics, electronic or biomedical engineering or similar and a background in neuroscience and optics. Expertise in modeling components in optical CAD and their analysis, as well as familiarity with fabrication technologies of microoptical elements is a plus.
The contract has a duration of 2 years. The working language of the institute is English.  Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, a detailed Curriculum Vitae and names of at least 2 references to Chiara Bartolozzi (chiara.bartolozzi at iit.it<mailto:chiara.bartolozzi at iit.it>) and Carlo Liberale (carlo.liberale at iit.it<mailto:carlo.liberale at iit.it>) within April 6th 2013.
In order to comply with the Italian law (art. 23 of Privacy Law of the Italian Legislative Decree n. 196/03), we have to kindly ask the candidate to give his/her consent to allow IIT to process his/her personal data. We inform you that the information you provided will be used solely for the purpose of assessing your professional profile to meet the requirements of IIT. Your data will be processed by IIT, with headquarters in Genoa, Via Morego, 30, acting as the Data Holder, using computer and paper based means, observing the rules on protection of personal data, including those relating to the security of data. Please also note that, pursuant to art. 7 of Legislative Decree 196/2003, you may exercise your rights at any time as a party concerned by contacting the Data Manager.
The IIT is an Equal Opportunity Employer that actively seeks diversity in the workforce




Chiara Bartolozzi

Team Leader
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Via Morego, 30
16163 Genoa, Italy
Ph: +39 010 7178-1474



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