Phd Position: Wearable Soft Actuation Systems Based On Pneumatic Driving

Organisation/Company: University of Florence

Research Field: Engineering › Biomedical engineering Engineering › Mechanical engineering

Researcher Profile: First Stage Researcher (R1)

Application Deadline: 20/10/2022 23:00 - Europe/Brussels

Location: Italy › Florence

Type Of Contract: Temporary

Job Status: Full-time

Hours Per Week: 40

Eu Research Framework Programme: H2020 / Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Marie Curie Grant Agreement Number: 101072920

The PhD student will be a member of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network SOFTWEAR. The network will comprise 12 PhD students from 10 European Universities. SOFTWEAR is a highly interdisciplinary Doctoral Network in the emerging and rapidly growing field of wearables, with a unique focus on soft actuators for wearables and exoskeletons. The primary objective of SOFTWEAR is to train young researchers in the multidisciplinary science of soft actuators for integration in wearables and augmenting textiles. This will be achieved by merging chemistry, physics, mechanics, electronics, textile technology, design, human-technology interaction and ethics in a truly interdisciplinary manner, while teaching essential skills in ethics, product development, IPR and industrial realisation, thus providing a unique added value to the careers of the Researchers. This will be accomplished by on-the- job training on innovative research projects developing beyond-the-state-of- the-art soft actuator technology and integrating this into active garments and soft exoskeletons. The research will be carried out at leading academic groups and by immersion in applied projects at the industrial partners. The position will require traveling to participate in Training Schools and secondments of several months to academic and industrial associated partners.

For more information see www. softwear-dn.eu

PhD WORK PLAN:

The PhD student will develop new fully wearable actuation systems based on pneumatic driving. The actuators will use compressed air to inflate wearable soft chambers, via wearable miniature custom-designed compressors. The soft chambers will be hosted in special pockets created within garments. In order to ensure closed-loop control of the actuators, wearable soft sensors will also be developed, by exploiting dielectric elastomer-based capacitive stretch sensing. The sensors will consist of silicone-made screen-printed stretchable capacitors, shaped as thin stripes and disks, coating the garments at the level of the actuators. The combined actuators and sensors will be tested on volunteers, for iterative validations and improvements, following an approval from the concerned Ethics Committee. By the end of the project, the Researcher will gain high competence and skills on pneumatic actuation and dielectric elastomer sensing, whose application could be extended in the future to other systems.

Host university: University of Florence

PhD Supervisor: Prof. Federico Carpi (www. smart.unifi.it)

Benefits

Full-time employment contract for 36 months;

Very attractive salary plus a possible family allowance package according to the Marie Sklodowska- Curie Action (MSCA) Doctoral Networks rules and personal circumstances (family status) of the applicant. Th exact salary will be defined upoon the appointement and is dependent on the country correction factor. For further information, please vist the European Union MSCA website;

Enrolment in a PhD Programme;

Shared research and innovative multidisciplinary and multisectoral training by experts and experienced trainers from two sectors (academia and industry);

Secondments at other institutions within the SOFTWEAR consortium;

A structured training programme consisting of soft skills courses, targeted workshops, meetings and networking within the SOFTWEAR consortium;

Gaining experience abroad;

Opportunities for participation in international conferences;

Enlarged professional network and opportunities for career development in academia and private sector.

Eligibility criteria

Eligible candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Italy for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment by the University of Florence (i.e. 3 years preceding the starting date indicated in the employment contract/equivalent direct contract).

Eligible candidates shall not have been awarded any prior doctoral degree.

Eligible candidates must have a Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering or an equivalent degree that would entitle them to initiate doctorate studies.

Successful candidates must have a good level of proficiency in English, which will be assessed during the interview.

Selection process

In order to apply, send your CV (no recommendation letter is needed) by email to the President of the selection Committee, Prof. Federico Carpi: [email protected] The subject of the email should mandatorily read as follows: ‘SOFTWEAR PhD application'. The CV should be a PDF file (max size: 5 MB).

Application deadline: 20 October 2022, 23:00 – local time (Italy).

Invitation to interview: by 23 October 2022.

Communication of the final results: by 5 November 2022.

Tentative start date of the contract: January 2023.

Offer Requirements

REQUIRED EDUCATION LEVEL

Engineering: Master Degree or equivalent

REQUIRED LANGUAGES

ENGLISH: Good

Skills/Qualifications

See the Eligibility criteria.

Specific Requirements

See the Eligibility criteria.

Contact Information

Organisation/Company: University of Florence

Department: Industrial Engineering

Organisation Type: Higher Education Institute

Website: https:// www. unifi.it

E-Mail: [email protected]

Country: Italy

City: Florence

State/Province: Tuscany

Postal Code: 50139

Street: via di santa marta, 3