PhD TactoChem – Signal Amplification and Processing

A sense of touch allows us to handle objects with fine motor skills and navigate the complexities of everyday life. Robots struggle with even simple tasks, because their sensing capabilities remain limited. It is incredibly hard to achieve the level of sophistication and high-density integration of sensing, signal processing, and movement that comes so naturally to us. This project, funded by an European Starting Grant, aims to develop a new class of chemical touch sensors that can be incorporated into robotic prototypes.

Join a rapidly expanding team of PhD students and Postdocs, shape a rapidly emerging field with your insights, and become a forerunner in chemically-driven robotics. The core objective of this PhD project is to amplify mechanochemical signals through chemical reactions and transport them across soft robotic hands to enable a sense of touch in robots. Leverage your systems chemistry and/or microfluidics background and learn more about polymer chemistry, rapid prototyping, and cutting edge analytical techniques.

• Develop soft robotic components with microfluidic channels that can transport chemical signals.
• Establish chemical reaction networks that allow for amplification of mechanochemical signals and quantify their behaviour, supported by kinetic modelling.
• Work with soft materials and 3D design and understand how signals travel through materials and activate movement responses.
• Develop a systems chemistry approach to employ mechanophores for robotics.

Excel in a top chemistry group with top-notch infrastructure.

• An M.Sc. degree in chemistry or equivalent.
• Demonstrable research experience in systems chemistry, microfluidics, and/or organic synthesis.
• Motivation to design and synthesize novel reaction networks and study their behaviour in innervated soft robots
• Excellent command of written and spoken English.
• Willingness to acquire a variety of additional skills ranging from basic programming to 3D modelling.
• Well-developed communication and collaboration skills and the ability to work independently in a multidisciplinary environment.

Ph.D. students are expected to develop scientific independence and complete research projects. Enthusiastic Ph.D. students stay abreast of developments in the field, proactively communicate research results, supervise

B.Sc. and M.Sc. students, and work effectively in a team. We are looking forward for you to joining our team to create new mechanochemistry, materials, and robots.

232 vacation hours per year, based on a 38-hour workweek (1.0 FTE). You can also work more or fewer hours in exchange for more or fewer free hours. For example, with a 40-hour workweek, you save 96 extra free hours, and with a 36-hour workweek, you lose 96 hours.

End-of-year bonus of 8.3% and 8% holiday allowance.

Extensive opportunities for personal and professional development.

University of Groningen

At the University of Groningen (UG), researchers from all fields of academia and technology are working on academic challenges and societal questions. Lecturers prepare their students for meaningful careers within or outside the academic world. Interdisciplinary research and teaching, sharing of knowledge, collaboration with businesses, government institutions, and societal organizations are aspects that are of the utmost importance to this European top university.

The UG aims to be an open academic community with an inclusive and safe working climate that invites you to add your value.

Faculty of Science and Engineering

The Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) provides teaching and research across a wide range of disciplines, from physics and biology to artificial intelligence, mechanical engineering, and pharmacy. In close collaboration with partners from industry, healthcare, and society, we contribute to the urgent challenges of our time, such as energy, sustainability, digitization, and medical technology. Our community is open and informal, with more than 7,000 students, 1,000 PhD students, and 1,400 staff members from all over the world.

If you would like to learn more about the Faculty of Science and Engineering, visit rug.nl/fse .

Our team, led by Dr. Michael M. Lerch, aims to create a chemical operating system for robots, thereby developing novel chemistry and materials with unprecedented functions. We believe that chemistry can close the performance…