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<div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-unicode"> <span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Dear
Colleagues,<br>
<br>
</span>The Perception and Activity Understanding group
(Jean-Marc Odobez,</span><a
href="http://www.idiap.ch/%7Eodobez/"
style="text-decoration:none;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">
</span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;">http://www.idiap.ch/~odobez/</span></a><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">)
and the Robot Learning and Interaction group (Sylvain Calinon,</span><a
href="http://calinon.ch" style="text-decoration:none;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">
</span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;">http://calinon.ch</span></a><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">)
</span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;"
id="docs-internal-guid-7bc9a002-898d-7e4e-d105-70b4ccfabba6">at
the Idiap Research Institute (</span><a
href="http://www.idiap.ch" style="text-decoration:none;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;">http://www.idiap.ch</span></a><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">)
</span>seek 3 PhD candidates for a Swiss NSF funded project
aiming to study robot skills acquisition through active learning
and social interaction strategies (ROSALIS, see below). The 3
PhD students will collaborate together, with 3 axes of research:
</span>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">1)
skill learning (Calinon)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">2)
perception (Odobez)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">3)
interaction modeling (Odobez+Calinon). </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">The
preferred axis/axes of research must be mentioned in the
application.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">The
project will start in early 2018, but positions can start
earlier. The ideal PhD candidate should hold a MS degree in
computer science, engineering, physics or applied mathematics.
S/he should have a background in statistics, linear algebra,
signal processing and programming. The positions are for 4
years, provided successful progress, and should lead to a
dissertation. The selected candidates will become doctoral
students at EPFL provided acceptance by the Doctoral School at
EPFL (</span><a href="http://phd.epfl.ch/applicants"
style="text-decoration:none;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;">http://phd.epfl.ch/applicants</span></a><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">).
Annual gross salary ranges from 47,000 CHF (first year) to
50,000 CHF (last year).</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Interested
candidates should submit a cover letter, a detailed CV, and
the names of three references (or recommendation letters)
through the Idiap online recruitment system:</span><a
href="http://www.idiap.ch/education-and-jobs/"
style="text-decoration:none;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">
</span></a><a
href="http://www.idiap.ch/education-and-jobs/job-10222"
style="text-decoration:none;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;">http://www.idiap.ch/education-and-jobs/job-10222</span></a><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">.
</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Interviews
will start on *September 1st, 2017*. Late applications will be
treated depending on whether positions have been filled or
not. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">---</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">About
ROSALIS:</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Most
efforts in robot learning from demonstration are turned toward
developing algorithms for the acquisition of specific skills
from training data. While such developments are important,
they often do not take into account the social structure of
the process, in particular, that the interaction with the user
and the selection of the different interaction steps can
directly influence the quality of the collected data. In
ROSALIS, we propose to rely on natural interactions for skill
learning, involving queries about the skills, and
demonstrations made by both the human and the robot to show
what it has learned. </span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">The
research will advance on several fronts. First, for skills
representation, the robot learners will require an appropriate
level of plasticity, allowing them to adapt, refine or freeze
a skill primitive currently being learned. Furthermore, active
learning methodologies will be developed, relying on
heterogeneous sources of information (demonstrations, feedback
labels, properties), allowing to make hypotheses about the
skill invariants and to suggest demonstrations or queries.
Secondly, to allow natural interactions, we will design
perception algorithms to provide a higher level understanding
of people behaviors and intentions, including gaze information
and multimodal action recognition and segmentation. The
different mechanisms will be integrated for modeling the
interaction, implying the coordination (selection, timing) of
the different interaction units.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">We
target applications of robots in both manufacturing (with
Baxter and Franka robots) and home/office environments (with
the Pepper robot), both requiring re-programming in an
efficient and personalized manner. </span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;"><br
class="kix-line-break">
<br class="kix-line-break">
</span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">---</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">About
Idiap:</span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">
</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Idiap
is an independent, not-for-profit, research institute
recognized and funded by the Swiss Federal Government, the
State of Valais, and the City of Martigny.</span><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">
Idiap offers competitive salaries and conditions at all levels
in a young, high-quality, dynamic, and multicultural
environment. Idiap is an equal opportunity employer and is
actively involved in the "Advancement of Women in Science"
European initiative. The Institute seeks to maintain a
principle of open competition (on the basis of merit) to
appoint the best candidate, provides equal opportunity for all
candidates, and equally encourage both genders to apply.</span>
<br>
</p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;"><br>
</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">Idiap
is located in the town of Martigny in Valais, a scenic region
in the south of Switzerland, surrounded by the highest
mountains of Europe, and offering exceptional quality of life,
exciting recreational activities, including hiking, climbing
and skiing, as well as varied cultural activities. It is
within close proximity to Lausanne and Geneva. Although Idiap
is located in the French part of Switzerland, English is the
official working language. Free French lessons are also
provided on a complimentary basis.</span></p>
<br>
<p dir="ltr"
style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span
style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;">For
frequently asked questions (FAQs) about living in Switzerland,
please go to <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.idiap.ch/en/faq">http://www.idiap.ch/en/faq</a></span></p>
<br>
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