Research Assistant or Research Associate in Robot Learning and Fast Recovery

Imperial College London; London; On-site; GBP 43,000 - 47,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading university in research and development in London seeks a Research Assistant or Research Associate for the TRUSTLINE project. This role focuses on developing machine learning technologies for robotic systems, requiring a strong background in robotics and machine learning, with programming skills in Python. The ideal candidate should have a relevant PhD or Master's degree and a proven publication record. Competitive salary and extensive career development opportunities are offered.

Benefits

Sector-leading salary

38 days off per year

Comprehensive career development support

10 training and development days

Qualifications

• A strong computer science background and proven publication track record.
• Experience in conducting experiments on physical robots.
• Familiarity with evolutionary algorithms, reinforcement learning, and control theory.

Responsibilities

• Develop and test methods for robot deployment and adaptation.
• Focus on state estimation of robotic systems from external cameras.
• Contribute to the development of machine learning-based monitoring technologies.

Skills

Computer Vision

Robotics

Machine Learning

Programming in Python

Deep Reinforcement Learning

Education

PhD in Computer Science or related field

Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

JAX

Job description

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Research Assistant or Research Associate in Robot Learning and Fast Recovery, London

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Client:

Imperial College London

Location:

London, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

b453a11399e7

Job Views:

13

Posted:

12.08.2025

Expiry Date:

26.09.2025

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Job Description:

The Adaptive and Intelligent Robotics Lab (AIRL) in the Department of Computing at Imperial College London is seeking a talented Research Associate (post-doc) or Research Assistant (pre-doc) to work on a new project called TRUSTLINE, which is part of the Learning Introspective Control (LINC) DARPA Program. The project aims to develop machine learning (ML)--based introspection and monitoring technologies that enable robotic systems and critical infrastructures to detect and understand ongoing situations as they encounter uncertainty or unexpected events. The program also seeks to develop technologies to communicate these changes to a human or AI operator while retaining operator confidence and ensuring continuity of operations. The successful applicant will focus on developing and testing new methods to improve the deployment, adaptation capabilities and safety of robots and critical infrastructures. The developed algorithms will be evaluated on legged robots, wheel-based robots and under-actuated large-scale manipulators (., container cranes).

For further information on Dr Antoine Cully’s research and projects, see

This project will be achieved by combining state-of-the-art algorithms from multiple domains such as evolutionary algorithms, reinforcement learning, and control theory. The main responsibility of the successful applicant will be the state estimation of the robotic system from external cameras. Familiarity with existing methods from these domains, such as Deep Learning, Quality-Diversity algorithms, reinforcement learning, model predictive control, parallel computing using JAX and rapid online learning, is highly desirable, but candidates demonstrating an ability and willingness to become familiar with these topics and able to contribute to them will also be considered. This project has a strong emphasis on applications on physical robots, experience and appetite to face the challenge of applying learning algorithms on physical robots are therefore required. One of the goals of this project is to commercialise.

You must have a strong computer science background and have experience in one or more of the following areas: Computer Vision, Robotics, Evolutionary Computation, Deep Reinforcement Learning, and Machine Learning. This should include a proven publication track record.

You should also have:

• Research Associate: A PhD (or equivalent) in an area pertinent to the subject area, . Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics.
• Research Assistant: A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in an area pertinent to the subject area, . Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics.
• A strong background in both robotics and/or machine learning, including experience conducting experiments on physical robots.
• Excellent programming skills are required and strong experience with the Python library JAX would be a plus.
• Experience writing and publishing academic papers.

Please see job description for a full list of requirements.

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant, salary range £43,003 - £46,297 per annum.

You will have the opportunity to continue your career at a world-leading institution. Imperial College is consistently in the top 10 world university rankings with the Department of Computing ranked top of the 2021 UK REF assessment.

You will receive a sector-leading salary and remuneration package (including 38 days off a year) and a comprehensive early career development support package including 10 training and development days.