Overview
Start your mission with DLR
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is the national aeronautics and space research centre and the space agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. Here, 10,000 employees work together on a unique variety of topics in the fields of aeronautics, space, energy, transport, security and digitalisation. Their missions range from basic research to the development of innovative applications and products for tomorrow. Cutting-edge research requires excellent minds – particularly more females – at all levels, who fully achieve their potential in an inspiring environment. Launch your mission with us.
For our Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich , we are currently looking for an
Engineer Computer Science, Mechatronics or similar (f/m/x) Robust Vision-Based State Estimation for Flying Robots
Your mission:
The Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics (RM) develops autonomous mobile robots and deploys them in domains such as planetary exploration and search-and-rescue scenarios. Concretely, we build systems that operate in unknown environments, that are often unstructured and difficult to navigate, and we aim to avoid external infrastructures such as GNSS or permanent communication links. Our heterogeneous robot team consists of the flying platform ARDEA and of so-called light-weight rover units (LRU). ARDEA is a fully self-developed hexacopter with a sophisticated camera setup, and the LRU is a small and agile rover prototype. The capabilities of ARDEA were recently demonstrated during the ARCHES mission on a Moon-analog campaign on Mt. Etna in Sicily, Italy, as well as at the 2018 International Astronautical Congress in Bremen, Germany.
Navigating in unknown planetary environments is challenging, since the robot can only use the sensors onboard such as cameras and IMU, and it cannot use GNSS or other global tracking systems. For this task, robust state estimation algorithms are necessary that can run in real-time and onboard of the robotic system. For that, ARDEA only uses its two stereo camera pairs and an IMU. By fusing these data streams, ARDEA is able to robustly fly close to the ground. For flights further away from the ground and to reach distant regions, our team currently brings our navigation approach to the next level. For this challenging task, we are looking for a new team member.
Your Tasks:
literature research of current state of the art in visual odometries and visual-inertial odometries
maintain and extend current state estimation software for a free-flying multicopter system
develop new approaches for robust navigation in unstructured and unknown environments
investigate and develop relative navigation approaches to obtain a more robust and flexible state estimation
develop approaches that leverage of different kinds of sensors (including mono and stereo vision) to improve the state
estimation of the robot
system integration and maintenance
Your qualifications:
at least an M.Sc. in Computer Science, Mechatronics, Engineering, or related field
experience in programming with C++ and Python
experience with Linux
experience with ROS is desired
knowledge in robotics, visual odometry, state estimation is beneficial
highly motivated to do hands-on research
Your benefits:
Look forward to a fulfilling job with an employer who appreciates your commitment and supports your personal and professional development. Our unique infrastructure offers you a working environment in which you have unparalleled scope to develop your creative ideas and accomplish your professional objectives. Our human resources policy places great value on a healthy family and work-life-balance as well as equal opportunities for persons of all genders (f/m/x). Individuals with disabilities will be given preferential consideration in the event their qualifications are equivalent to those of other candidates.
If you have any questions concerning specific aspects of the job, please contact Dr. Rudolph Triebel by calling +49 8153 28-4289 . Please find further information on this vacancy with the reference number 76533, and details regarding the remuneration and the application procedure, at www.DLR.de/dlr/jobs/#50591
