Student Research Assistant (m/f/div)

How do artificial muscles change the conventional definition of robots? The MPI-IS Robotic Materials Department (https://rm.is.mpg.de/), led by Prof. Christoph Keplinger, is working on artificial muscles that could be implemented in robotic prototypes. We would like to design and fabricate artificial muscles and integrate them into robots and exoskeleton suits, which are fundamental for the future of robotics.

Your tasks

The student assistant position is paid hourly and will allow the student to gain hands-on experience with hardware systems, as well as to be exposed to ongoing robotics research. The position and tasks are subject to discussion with the interested candidates. Selected candidates can start working as soon as they are hired.

Possible tasks include

• Fabricating film-based soft actuators.
• Optimizing the fabrication processes.
• Testing the actuators and evaluating their performances.
• Optimizing designs of the actuators.

Your profile

We are looking for talented students who are pursuing a Master of Science in biomedical engineering (Medizintechnik), mechanical engineering (Maschinenbau), mechatronics (Mechatronik), material science (Materialwissenschaften), electrical engineering (Elektrotechnik), physics (Physik) or related fields to support our research as student assistants (HiWis) and to shape the future of robotics with us.

Applicants should

• have high motivation.
• be pursuing a master’s degree.
• be currently enrolled in a German university.
• want to work in an international and interdisciplinary research group.
• have good oral and written communication skills in English.
• be able to work on-site at the Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany.

We are especially interested in applicants who have

• experience in engineering drawing (2D CAD) and designing experiments.
• interest and/or experience in
  • rapid prototyping techniques (3D CAD, CNC, laser cutter, 3D printer, screen printing, etc.).
  • handicraft
  • process optimization

We offer

Master students holding a Bachelor’s degree will be paid 13,65€ per hour, a maximum of 20 hours per week. An initial contract will be offered for three months with the possibility to be extended for a longer period.

We offer a modernly equipped workplace, a strongly international working environment, as well as the affiliation to a daycare center for young children.

Contact and application

Please upload your application, including a résumé in English or German and a cover letter in English, to our application system (https://jobs.is.mpg.de/kw17n).

For further questions, please contact Malte Hendrickson at malte@is.mpg.de.

The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals. The Max Planck Society strives for gender equality and diversity. Furthermore, the Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in its workforce in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply.

Closing date for applications

15.10.2024