Research Assistant (HCI, Human-AI Collaboration)

National University of Singapore; Singapore; On-site; SGD 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salaries

Renewable contract based on performance

Job summary

The National University of Singapore is seeking a highly motivated Research Assistant for the Augmented Human Lab. This role involves co-designing and developing human-robot collaboration interfaces, particularly for high-risk operational scenarios. The successful candidate will work closely with a multidisciplinary team, designing prototypes and evaluating systems integrating AI to support human operators.

Qualifications include a relevant degree and strong programming experience. Competitive salaries and benefits are offered for an initial one-year term, with potential for renewal based on performance.

Qualifications

• Minimum bachelor’s or master’s degree in relevant field.
• Strong programming skills in Python, C/C++, Java, or Swift.
• Familiarity with UI prototyping frameworks required.

Responsibilities

• Support requirements gathering with domain experts.
• Assist in interface design for collaboration tools.
• Run user studies and data collection activities.

Skills

Strong programming experience in Python, C/C++, Java, or Swift

Experience with UI prototyping frameworks

Basic statistical analysis

Excellent communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, HCI, or related field

Tools

VS Code

PyCharm

Xcode

Arduino

Raspberry Pi

AWS

Job description

Research Assistant (HCI, Human‑AI Collaboration)

Augmented Human Lab, Smart Systems Institute, National University of Singapore seeks a highly motivated Research Assistant to work on the co-design and development of human‑robot collaboration interfaces for high‑risk operational scenarios such as chemical spill response and urban search‑and‑rescue.

The Research Assistant will design, prototype, and evaluate interactive systems that integrate explainable on‑device AI and small language models to support human operators in making faster, safer, and more confident decisions. The candidate will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of researchers, research fellows, and industry partners.

Major Responsibilities

• Support requirements gathering with domain experts and industry collaborators, including field observations, interviews, and task analysis.
• Assist in the design of interfaces that promote shared mental models, transparency, and explainability in human‑robot collaboration.
• Develop UI prototypes and interaction concepts through iterative user‑centered design cycles with end‑users.
• Run benchmarking experiments and user studies with human operators, including experimental setup, data collection, and post‑trial analysis.
• Contribute to dissemination activities, including conference papers, posters, demos, and documentation.
• Participate actively in lab meetings, project reviews, and collaborative workshops with academic and industrial partners.

Requirements and Skills

• Minimum bachelor’s or master’s degree from a reputable university in Computer Science, Engineering, HCI, or a related field.
• Strong programming experience in at least one of: Python, C/C++, Java, Swift.
• Familiarity with UI prototyping frameworks or mobile/interactive systems development.
• Experience working with experimental systems, data collection pipelines, and basic statistical analysis.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively within a multidisciplinary team.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Additional Skills

• Experience with human‑centered design, usability testing, or interaction design for complex systems.
• Exposure to machine learning pipelines, deployment on edge devices, or embedded platforms.
• Familiarity with development environments and platforms such as VS Code, PyCharm, Xcode, Android Studio, or ADB tools.
• Experience with hardware prototyping platforms such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP32, or similar microcontrollers.
• Knowledge of virtualization or containerization tools (e.g., Docker, VirtualBox, VMware).
• Experience with cloud or backend services such as AWS, Firebase, or similar platforms.
• Prior involvement in research projects progressing toward real‑world deployment or technology translation.

Benefits

The initial term of appointment will be 1-year and renewable based on performance. The selected candidate will be offered competitive salaries and benefits.