Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Multi-Robot Scouting Closing date: Sep 30, 2026

University of Oxford, Department of Engineering Science; Oxford; On-site; GBP 39,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Athena Swan Bronze award

Job summary

University of Oxford, Department of Engineering Science, invites applications for a full-time Postdoctoral Research Assistant to advance multi-robot scouting within the ESA-funded TMNT project. You will develop learning- and optimization-based approaches for multi-robot planning and perception in simulated and real robot environments.

Required are a PhD in a related field, a strong publication record, and experience with real robots and teamwork.

Qualifications

• PhD or near completion in robotics, ML, AI or related field.
• Strong track record in locomotion and manipulation research.
• Experience with real robots and team collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, implement and evaluate multi-robot scouting methods.
• Develop learning- and optimization-based path and motion planning.
• Integrate multi-modal perception with online state estimation.
• Work with challenging terrains and real hardware.

Skills

Learning-based perception

Multi-robot coordination

Path and motion planning

Whole-body control

Machine learning

Optimization

Education

PhD in robotics or related field

Job description

Location

Oxford, United Kingdom

Title

Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Multi-Robot Scouting

Salary

39424 - 47779

Closing date

Sep 30, 2026 12:00PM

Contract type

Full-time, Fixed-term 24 months

Description

We are seeking a full-time Postdoctoral Research Assistant to join the Dynamic Robot Systems Group of the Oxford Robotics Institute and the Department of Engineering Science in central Oxford. This project is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is and is fixed-term for 24 months.

The project "TMNT - Threat Monitoring Networked Team" will develop multi-robot scouting approaches to explore and interact with a set of challenging scenarios. This project is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is in collaboration with Autodiscovery. TMNT will focus on a team of highly mobile Unitree A2 legged/wheeled robots, equipped with manipulators, sensing and networking payloads. The project will build approaches to collaborative exploration to enable efficient mapping and monitoring of a previously unknown environment. The scenarios range from planetary exploration, with a deployment planned for the ESA Luna Facility, to industrial and commercial settings. This position will focus on using and developing learning-based perceptive approaches.

You will develop learning and/or optimization based approaches to multi-robot path and motion planning and coordination, integrating multi-modal perception and online state estimation. Part of the project will include locomotion in challenging terrain and interaction/manipulation with the environment. You will be responsible for the design, development, implementation and evaluation of multi-robot scouting methods suitable for wheeled-legged systems in physically-realistic simulated environments and on real robots.

You will hold or be close to completion of a PhD/DPhil in robotics, computer science, machine learning, informatics, AI, or a closely related field. You will have an excellent academic track record in topics relevant to locomotion and manipulation; path and motion planning, whole-body control, multi-contact manipulation/locomotion, machine learning and optimization, avatar animation or related areas. You have experience working on real robots and great team working skills.

Robotics, legged/legged-wheeled, loco-manipulation, scouting, multi-robot coordination

For more information about working at the Department, see www.eng.ox.ac.uk/about/work-with-us/

The Department holds an Athena Swan Bronze award, highlighting its commitment to promoting women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

Contact

Prof Ioannis Havoutis (email: [e-mail])

[e-mail]