General Description

Salary: $71,000 a year

Perception Performance of Robotic Systems

Position Description:

The Intelligent Systems Division at NIST is investigating the performance of 3D machine vision systems for various manufacturing applications. The research will focus on integrating 3D bin-picking vision systems with robotic arms and conducting experiments to understand the performance of these 3D bin-picking systems. This work will support the development of new metrics and standards for these systems.

Duties:

The duties will be tailored to fit the applicant's qualifications and the applicant will be trained on the use of certain systems needed for the following possible duties:

?        Integrate commercial bin-picking systems into the NIST/ISD bin-picking testbed.

?        Program collaborative robot arms for conducting various tasks and experiments.

?        Research the effects of various factors (part color, part surface properties, bin color, bin depth, ratio of part size to bin size, part distribution in a bin) on bin picking performance (e.g., cycle time, pose uncertainty, etc.).

?        Collect data from various 3D imaging systems.

?        Use metrology systems (e.g., laser trackers, CMMs, etc.) for establishing reference measurements.

?        Use analysis software (e.g., MATLAB, Spatial Analyzer, Polyworks, Excel, etc.) to interpret results and produce visualizations.

?        Assist in the development of demonstrations for tradeshows and conferences.

?        Write reports and contribute to peer-reviewed publications.

?        Work schedule: On-campus (Gaithersburg, MD), Full-time (40hrs/week)

Qualifications

Not all the qualifications below are required.

?        Education: Engineering majors with bachelor's/master's degree, or in final or penultimate years of bachelor's/master's degree.

?        Programming experience in one or more of the following computer languages: C++, Python, Java

?        Experience with CAD software such as SolidWorks

?        Experience using MATLAB.

?        Experience using 3D printers.

?        Basic understanding of robot control theory (DH parameters, kinematics, etc.)

?        Basic understanding of 3D sensors such as LiDAR or RGBD cameras

?        Basic understanding of the Unix/Linux operating systems

?        Basic understanding of programming robot forward and inverse kinematics

?        Working knowledge of 3D point cloud data processing techniques using Point Cloud

?        Library (PCL - http://pointclouds.org), CloudCompare, or other similar tools

Application Instructions

Please upload the following with your application:

-         CV/Resume

-         2 professional references

*Please limit C.V to 3 pages only and ONLY include a valid email address for your contact info. Please DO NOT include telephone numbers, home address or photos on your resume.

What is PREP?

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest and thus requires that such institutions be the recipients of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration. A candidate hired for this position will be through the university that is associated with the NIST PREP program and will be an employee of that University. For example, see  Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) ' Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) (umd.edu)

Privacy Act Statement

Authority:  15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose:  The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the  Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor's degree holders, graduate students, master's degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.  

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses:  NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices:  NIST-1: NIST Associates. 

Disclosure:  Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use the information you submit for the purpose stated.

About Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University remains committed to its founding principle, that education for all students should be grounded in exploration and discovery. Hopkins students are challenged not just to learn but also to advance learning itself. Critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and entrepreneurship are all encouraged and nourished in this unique educational environment. After more than 130 years, Johns Hopkins remains a world leader in both teaching and research. Faculty members and their research colleagues at the university's Applied Physics Laboratory have each year since 1979 won Johns Hopkins more federal research and development funding than any other university. The university has nine academic divisions and campuses throughout the Baltimore-Washington area. The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Whiting School of Engineering, the School of Education and the Carey Business School are based at the Homewood campus in northern Baltimore. The schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing share a campus in east Baltimore with The Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Peabody Institute, a leading professional school of music, is located on Mount Vernon Place in downtown Bal...timore. The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies is located in Washington's Dupont Circle area.

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