Postdoc Perception and Situational Awareness mobile robots

Organisation/Company Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Research Field Engineering Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Country Italy Final date to receive applications 31 Mar 2026 - 00:00 (UTC) Type of Contract Other Job Status Other Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Commitment & contract:
Fixed term contract with renewal option

Location: IIT - Center for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Via S. Quirico, 19d, 16163 Genova GE.

Step into a world of endless possibilities, together let’s leave something for the future!

At IIT, we are committed to advancing human-centered Science and Technology to address the most urgent societal challenges of our era. We foster excellence in both fundamental and applied research, spanning fields such as neuroscience and cognition, humanoid technologies and robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and material sciences, offering a truly interdisciplinary scientific experience. Our approach integrates cutting-edge tools and technology, empowering researchers to push the limits of knowledge and innovation.

With us, your curiosity will know no bounds.

We are dedicated to providing equal employment opportunities and fostering diversity in all its forms, creating an inclusive environment. We value the unique experiences, knowledge, backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives of our people. By embracing diversity, we believe science can achieve its fullest potential.

THE ROLE

You will be working within the Humanoid & Human Centred Mechatronics Research Unit at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) a multicultural and multi-disciplinary group with strong expertise in robot design, modelling and control of new mechatronics components. The Humanoid & Human Centred Mechatronics Research Line is coordinated by Nikos Tsagarakis , who has extensive experience in Robotics and Mechatronics and Control
. The research concentrates on robot design exploring state of art design approaches (structural, actuation and transmission systems) combined with advancements in control including whole body loco-manipulation generation, balancing regulation, physical interaction and teleoperation control.

We are looking for an exceptional and highly motivated scientist to work on situational awareness systems for mobile robots. The role will involve developing advanced navigation systems.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

• PhD in Robotics, Software Engineering or similar disciplines
• Strong expertise in the localization and mapping terrestrial or flying vehicles and robots
• Expertise State estimation of floating base robots
• Relevant background on environment reconstruction, semantic segmentation and classification
• Expertise on obstacle detection, avoidance and path planning methods for mobile systems in any field
• Expertise on object feature detection, classification and localization
• Real experience on working with different perception sensors systems, 2D/3D cameras and LiDAR, inertial sensors, radar technologies, GPS, and calibration methods
• Real experience in designing, implementing and testing of robust, efficient perception algorithms and development of perception stacks for autonomous mobile systems in general in any field
• Machine learning/deep learning experience applied to perception and any experience with deep Learning frameworks, e.g., Caffe, Tensor Flow, PyTorch, and GPU-acceleration frameworks, e.g., CUDA will be a plus.
• Outstanding SW development and programming skills in C++, Python, ROS tools and libraries.
• Excellent Csoftware design under Linux and experience with software integration and testing frameworks, e.g. Travis
• Strong publication record
• The ability to properly report, organize and publish research data
• Good communication skills in English

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

• Experience from simulation to physical robot transfer for complex robotic platforms
• Hands on experience with perception tools for mobile/legged robots
• Strong problem solving attitude and analytical thinking
• Flexible and creative team player with the ability to work independently and collaboratively in a highly interdisciplinary environment
• High motivation to learn
• Good in time and priority management

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

• The successful candidate will be offered a contract with a competitive salary which will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.
• Flexible working time

Please submit your application using the online form and including a detailed CV, a cover letter (outlining motivation, experience and qualifications) and any documents demonstrating previous relevant working experience and research studies.