We offer a range of both challenging and exciting project and master thesis assignments at the robotics group at SINTEF ICT. All our assignments give you a rare opportunity to do research and development at the very frontier of state-of-the-art in robotics, guided by experienced SINTEF researchers. Each assignment is integrated into current research efforts at the SINTEF ICT robotics group, and as such ensure both international industrial and academic relevance for the students.
Is This for Me?
Being part of the robotics group gives you access to both exciting tasks and assignments, as well as some of the world's most advanced robots and robot laboratory facilities. We seek motivated students with interests and curiosity related to robotics, motion control, AI and robot learning, sensor and data analysis, and computer programming. We do not expect you to be in the fore-front of these fields, but we do expect an eagerness to learn and an open mind towards technical fields outside your own main area of competence. A technical background from engineering cybernetics, robotics, and/or computer science will be preferred.
Current Assignments 2012
Our current assignments are listed below. For more information on each assignment, please follow the links. If you wish to apply for one of the assignments, you may contact the researcher listed as contact person for that particular assignment.
Assignment Links
- Motion planning and control of mobile robot manipulators
- Teleoperation with time-delays of mobile robot manipulators
General Structure of each Assignment
All assignments given at the robotics group follow a general structure. It is expected that this structure is reflected both throughout the work process as well as in the final thesis. There are four components we set as a basis:
- A litterature survey conveying the current state-of-the-art within the specific field of the assignment.
- Description and explanation of theory. Based on the litterature survey, theories (algorithms, equations, etc.) relating to the specific assignment will be developed.
- Simulations focusing on displaying the results of the developed theories.
- Experiments on real robot systems.
Robotics Laboratory Facilities
Did you know that some of the most advanced research robot systems live right here at Gløshaugen in Trondheim, Norway? As part of the SINTEF ICT robotics group you will have access to play with robot systems such cooperating industrial KUKA robot manipulators, a light-weight research robot arm from SCHUNK employing a dexterous three-fingered hand with tactile sensing capabilities, as well as two advanced mobile platforms from Adept Mobile Robots, the Pioneer P3-DX and the Seekur Jr.
We also create our own specialized robot systems here, most notably a family of snake robots collectively denominated the Konda robots. This family includes:
- PIKo - a wheeled snake robot for pipe inspection,
- KulKo and WheeKo - two snake robots using the same type of modular design, one wheeled and the other having tactile sensing shells surrounding the body,
- Anna Konda - a water hydraulic snake robot intended for fire-fighting,
- and Aiko, an electrical research snake robot.
