PhD Fellowship: Real-Time Forest Robotic AI & SLAM

NIBIO - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research; Norway; On-site; NOK 555,000 - 635,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Norwegian language training

Pension scheme

Job summary

NIBIO - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research in Ås, 30 km south of Oslo, offers a three-year PhD fellowship focused on teaching robots to understand forests in real time using LiDAR and camera data. The work will enable real-time localization and navigation through incremental ML on sensor data.

The candidate will be enrolled at NMBU and collaborate with the department's field robots. A Master's degree in data science, ML, robotics, or related fields is required, with English proficiency

Qualifications

• Master's degree or equivalent five-year degree in data science, ML, robotics, or related field.
• Experience implementing and modifying deep learning architectures.
• Working knowledge of Python and a modern deep learning framework (PyTorch or TensorFlow).
• Strong command of oral and written English.
• Willingness and physical ability to outdoor field work in Norwegian forests.

Responsibilities

• Develop ML architectures that interpret 3D point cloud data incrementally for real-time use.
• Investigate compact representations of forest structure to support localisation and scene understanding.
• Adapt models to live sensor data: sparse, unevenly sampled, motion-distorted and partially observed.
• Implement and evaluate systems on embedded hardware and NIBIO robot platforms.
• Ensure admission requirements for the PhD programme at NMBU are met.

Skills

Python programming

Deep learning

English proficiency

C++ or systems programming

Education

Master's degree or 5-year equivalent in data science, ML, robotics

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Job description

NIBIO - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research in Ås, 30 km south of Oslo, offers a three-year PhD fellowship focused on teaching robots to understand forests in real time using LiDAR and camera data. The work will enable real-time localization and navigation through incremental ML on sensor data.

The candidate will be enrolled at NMBU and collaborate with the department's field robots. A Master's degree in data science, ML, robotics, or related fields is required, with English proficiency