PhD Position in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

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INRAE presentation

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) is a major player in research and innovation. It is a community of 12,000 people with 272 research, experimental research, and support units located in 18 regional centres throughout France. Internationally, INRAE is among the top research organisations in the agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences, as well as in ecology and environmental science. It is the world’s leading research organisation specialising in agriculture, food and the environment. INRAE’s goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges. Faced with a growing world population, climate change, resource scarcity, and declining biodiversity, the Institute has a major role to play in building solutions and supporting the necessary acceleration of agricultural, food and environmental transitions.

Work environment, missions and activities

You will be hosted at the Data Science and Engineering Lab (ULB, Belgium) for 18 months, followed by the Technologies and Information Systems for Agrosystems Unit (TSCF) in Aubière (INRAE, France) for 18 months as well. This position is part of the GreenFieldData project (HORIZON MSCA Joint Doctoral Network), which aims to develop IoRT (Internet of Robotic Things) solutions for sustainable agriculture.

Your mission will involve designing adaptive navigation algorithms for agricultural robots, leveraging trajectory databases and Foundation Models. The goal is to optimize the autonomy and efficiency of robots in dynamic environments (fields, vineyards, etc.), while integrating agro-ecological constraints.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• defining data engineering pipelines to prepare/validate historical operational data for learning;
• proposing methods to enable agricultural robots to navigate successfully in the field by leveraging their past operational experience;
• developing models to store a robot’s past operations and investigating point-to-point planning as a learning problem (e.g., using Foundation Models for spatiotemporal trajectories or multimodal approaches);
• designing interaction methods to incorporate human-in-the-loop guidance for robot navigation;
• publishing scientific results in international conferences and journals.

Application form: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/0d408efd-3c56-a24c-f2cd-cb462dd28cfa

Additional information: https://www.eu4greenfielddata.eu/phd-positions-application/how-to-apply

 

The contract includes 18 months in Belgium (ULB, Brussels) followed by 18 months in France (INRAE, Aubière).

Participation in workshops and summer schools organized by the GreenFieldData network.

Collaboration with industrial partners (Manitou Group, Recyclo) to validate solutions on real-world use cases (two secondment periods planned).

Training and skills

Recommended Education:

Master’s degree (120 ECTS) in computer science, robotics, data science, or a related field, with a specialization in AI, databases, or autonomous systems.

Desired Knowledge:

• proficiency in programming languages (Python, C++);
• experience in machine learning (Foundation Models, neural networks) and data management (PostgreSQL, MobilityDB);
• basics of mobile robotics.

Required Skills:

• team spirit and ability to work in an interdisciplinary environment (robotics, AI, agronomy);
• excellent English proficiency (project working language);
• scientific rigor and ability to write research papers.

INRAE's life quality

By joining our teams, you benefit from (depending on the type of contract and its duration):

- up to 30 days of annual leave + 15 days "Reduction of Working Time" (for a full time);
- parenting support: CESU childcare, leisure services;
- skills development systems: training, career advise;
- social support: advice and listening, social assistance and loans;
- holiday and leisure services: holiday vouchers, accommodation at preferential rates;
- sports and cultural activities;
- collective catering.

€4,720 gross per month, approximately €3,140 net per month. An additional family allowance of €660 gross per month.

How to apply

I send my CV and my motivation letter