Guidance Control Engineer

Overview

As a Guidance Control Engineer, you will be responsible for the steering system of the award-winning Micro Tunnel Boring Machine (MTBM) Groundhog Gamma. You will be in charge of developing, maintaining, and operating the steering system and designing a trajectory and a tracking controller. Guidance and control are achieved thanks to the hexapod (a complex hydraulically actuated 6 DOF device capable of changing the machine’s trajectory).

You will join the Navigation team and work together with Control Engineers towards a fully autonomous MTBM.

• Responsible for operating the steering mechanism during competitions
• Design, implement, and test a controller to track the desired trajectory
• Design optimal reference trajectories
• Test the controller in real tests and simulation
• Support other subsystem’s control engineers with control expertise
• Help out the team in small mechanical or electrical tasks related to your subsystem
• Attend weekly meetings and working sessions
• Actively contribute to building the association’s culture

• Outstanding communication and organizational skills
• High availability, commitment to the association’s cause, and active communication
• Aptitude and self-initiative for rapid decision-making and problem-solving
• Nurture a passion for tunneling and scientific research
• Able to maintain a cold spirit when faced with difficulties
• Control Systems I & II courses at ETH (highly recommended)
• Experience in System Modeling and System Identification
• Basics in programming (C++ &/or Python preferred)
• Experience or willingness to work with small electronics (sensors mainly)
• Experience with Ethernet and CAN as communication protocols is a plus
• Experience with ROS, Git, and Docker is a plus
• You will meet several other skilled and highly motivated individuals and build long-lasting relationships that can endure outside of the association
• You will gain expertise in designing efficient communication protocols within control systems, refining essential decision-making skills crucial to project architecture, and have the opportunity to broaden your engagement by contributing to a research thesis during your internship, aligned with your studies
• You will get the opportunity to meet and exchange with experts from various industries

The expected workload is estimated to be around 8 to 12 hours per week, with approximately one or two hours dedicated to meetings and the rest to individual or group work. Depending on the week, you will either attend the team’s working session for around three to five hours or dedicate time to coding at your discretion.

We provide an office and workplace in Zürich at ETH’s Student Project House (SPH) and in Dübendorf. From day one, you can work independently and take responsibility for your duties and deliverables. During weekly meetings and team working sessions, you must physically attend at SPH or justify your absence to your team lead.

• Motivation for applying and position of interest

Please note that SLT is a voluntary research organization and does not offer any paid employment.