Info for Applicants

Students interested in working at APS, for either an open position or a Thesis/Internship, are cordially invited to send an email to
Jun.-Prof. Rizzello at gianluca.rizzello(at)imsl.uni-saarland.de.

Open Positions

No open positions are available at present.

Bachelor's/Master's Thesis and Internship Projects

Smart Material-based Continuum/Soft Robots

The students interested in the field of smart-material based continuum/soft robotics can work at APS in one or more of the following areas:

  • Development and design of novel concepts of smart matetrial robotic systems
  • Motion control of smart material robotic systems
  • Self-sensing peception of smart material robotic systems
Motion Control of Smart Material Actuators

The students interested in the field of smart-material systems control can work at APS in one or more of the following areas:

  • Motion control algorithms for hysteresis compensation in smart material actuators
  • Energy-based control methods for smart material actuators
  • Optimal control of smart material actuators
  • Data-based control methods for smart material actuators
  • Implementation of real-time architectures for motion control systems
Smart Materials Modeling

The students interested in the field of smart material modeling can work at APS in one or more of the following areas:

  • Modeling and experimental validation of ionic electro-active polymer actuators (IPMC)
  • Modeling and experimental validation of dielectric fluid based actuators (HASEL)
Smart Material Systems Self-Sensing

The students interested in the field of smart-material systems self-sensing can work at APS in one or more of the following areas:

  • New self-sensing concepts for real-time position estimation of DE actuators
  • New self-sensing concepts for real-time position estimation of SMA actuators
  • Sensorless motion control architectures
Energy Harvesting

The students interested in the field of energy harvesting can work at APS in one or more of the following areas:

  • Development of energy harvesting concepts based on DE transducers
  • Development of experimental setups for validation of DE energy harvesting concepts
  • Harvesting cycle control optimization