Call for 2 PhD students and a Postdoctoral position under the Augmented Human Assistance project

A call is open for PhD students and Postdoctoral researchers at the Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute (M-ITI) of the University of Madeira (Funchal, Portugal), in the context of the “AHA: Augmented Human Assistance” project (CMUP-ERI/HCI/0046/2013) financed by the FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) under the Carnegie Mellon | Portugal Entrepreneurial Research Initiative 2013 program (CMU|Pt ERI).

The “AHA: Augmented Human Assistance” project is a novel, integrative and cross-disciplinar approach by an international consortium of universities and industry partners that combines innovation and fundamental research in the areas of human computer interaction, robotics, serious games and physiological computing. AHA’s goal is to develop a new generation of ICT based solutions that have the potential to transform healthcare by optimizing resource allocation, reducing costs, improving diagnoses and enabling novel therapies, thus increasing quality of life. 

The project proposes the development and deployment of a novel Robotic Assistance Platform designed for:

• Physical (re)training: Using Mixed Reality (MR) technology and serious games, AHA will develop adaptive MR physical training tools that deliver online feedback on performance to prevent sedentarism, support active aging and provide personalized tools for function re-training in motor impaired patients.
• Increasing self-awareness: Monitoring of user state by means of biosensors, computer vision systems and exercise performance data. User state will be assessed in a transparent manner and data will be visualized through friendly user interfaces, and shared with patients, clinicians and/or relatives.
• Augmented assistance: The above systems will be integrated on a mobile robotic platform with indoor navigation capabilities that will interact through a virtual coach system to assist patients, provide reminders on tasks, guide patients through exercises, and support them in daily routines.

The AHA project is an interdisciplinary collaboration of the following institutions:

-        YDreamsRobotics (http://www.ydreamsrobotics.com/)

-        PLUX - wireless biosignals (http://www.plux.info/)

-        Madeira-ITI (http://neurorehabilitation.m-iti.org)

-        Instituto Superior Técnico (http://vislab.isr.ist.utl.pt/)

-        Universidade Nova (http://www.cefitec.fct.unl.pt/en)

-        Faculdade de Motricidade Humana (http://ciper.fmh.ulisboa.pt/)

-        Carnegie Mellon University (http://www.ri.cmu.edu/)

Positions available:

• Call for PhD Studentship 
• Call for a Dual degree PhD Student (Carnegie Mellon University – Universidade da Madeira)
• Call for a Postdoctoral researcher