PhD scholarship in Immersive Full-Body Interactions in Complex Environnements (Switzerland)

The position is fully funded by the SNF up to 4 years ; the starting date can be agreed with the candidate once the candidate is selected by the Computer Science doctoral school (application deadline January 15th 2011) .

The goal of the PhD thesis is to contribute to the full-body control of an avatar (virtual mannequin) for the effective interactions in a potentially cluttered virtual environment, i.e. with a high density of potential obstacles (e.g. in aeronautics, automobile, ergonomics of home appliances, game environment, e tc…). Relying on our strong background in articulated structure kinematic control we wish to make the full-body control of human-like avatars as intuitive as everyday actions. The present project will focus on two bottlenecks towards achieving such goal: algorithmic performances to ensure real-time postural control

while avoiding collisions and freeing the user from any cognitive load related to the control of the avatar. The candidate is expected to contribute to new real-time postural control algorithms and to propose experiments in our 4-sided CAVE demonstrating objectively the gain over the state of the art.

Information about the range of research topics conducted in our group is visible in the demo page of the VRLAB under the “motion” and “Virtual reality”“motion” and “Virtual reality” sections.

Requirements:
Candidates need to have a Master degree in Computer Science with a strong interest in Robotics and 3D interactions. Some experience in Biomechanics, VR or Physically-based computer graphics is of course a plus. The ideal candidate for this position should have a strong mathematical background, good programming skills, and be interested in validating new interactions metaphors.

Applying:
1. Apply to our doctoral program before January 15th 2011, as explained under http://phd.epfl.ch/edic.

2. Specify in the application form that you are interested by the research group of Dr Ronan Boulic.

Contact: Dr Ronan BOULIC, ronan. boulic@epfl.ch
EPFL, VRLAB, INJ 141, Station 14, CH 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland