Postdoctoral position in embodied AI: robots that learn, adapt and collaborate F/M

Role Summary

How can robots move beyond predefined routines to work autonomously alongside people, learning physical skills, responding to unexpected situations, and making their actions understandable?

We are offering a two-year postdoctoral position at the Idiap Research Institute in Switzerland starting from January 2027, to investigate these questions in clinical-diagnostics and pharmaceutical quality-control laboratories.

The project addresses a timely challenge in embodied AI by translating advances in robot learning, vision-language-action models and multimodal interaction into autonomous behaviour that people can rely on in everyday work. 

You will help shape this research bringing together physical intelligence, human-robot interaction and neuro-symbolic control. The ambition is to develop robots that can act competently in the physical world while participating effectively in the human activities around them.

This creates opportunities to investigate questions such as:

• How can robots acquire and adapt manipulation skills across changing tasks and environments?  
• How should perception and interaction inform a robot’s decisions about acting, clarifying, recovering or requesting help?  
• How can robots make their behaviour understandable and coordinate naturally with people in shared spaces?  
• How can learned skills and structured reasoning work together to support reliable autonomy?

Your contribution will centre on robot learning and human-facing behaviour, including their connection to a neuro-symbolic controller developed with collaborating researchers. Depending on your expertise and the project’s needs, your research may emphasise adaptable manipulation, multimodal perception, human-aware navigation or spoken interaction. These directions will contribute to an integrated system connecting perception, physical skills, planning, monitoring and communication.

The position offers a distinctive combination of scientific scope and practical access including direct collaboration with its industrial developers, complementary expertise in human-centred robotics and neuro-symbolic AI, and planned evaluations with laboratory operators. You will be able to connect fundamental research questions with the demands of real workflows, studying both what the robot can accomplish and how people understand and work with it.

You will join Idiap’s Human-centered Robotics and AI group, supervised by Dr. Emmanuel Senft, and collaborate closely with the Neuro-symbolic AI group and F&P Robotics. Research will take place in Idiap’s robotics laboratory and at planned clinical and pharmaceutical pilot sites.

Your profile

We are looking for an ambitious researcher who wants to develop a strong scientific contribution while turning ideas into working systems. Your activities will include developing and integrating robotic capabilities, designing reproducible technical and human-centred evaluations, publishing research, and contributing to project demonstrations, documented software and reports.

You should bring:

• A PhD in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Machine Learning, Human-Robot Interaction or a closely related field.  
• A strong background in autonomous robotics, with hands-on experience with physical robots.  
• Demonstrated research experience in robot learning, human–robot interaction or both.  
• Strong Python programming skills, experience with ROS 2, and the ability to integrate robotic subsystems through collaborative software development.  
• Experience designing rigorous experiments and analysing results.  
• Clear scientific communication and the ability to work independently and within an interdisciplinary, international team.

Additional experience in vision-language-action models, learning from demonstration, contact-rich manipulation, multimodal interaction, task planning or deployment in operational environments would be valuable. We welcome different combinations of expertise; you do not need to cover every research direction described above.

As a research institute whose motto is “AI for Society”, Idiap is committed to an inclusive and supportive research environment. We value diverse perspectives, experiences and backgrounds, and actively encourage applications from women and other groups currently underrepresented in robotics and AI. If the scientific vision excites you, we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet every qualification listed.

Applicant screening will begin on October 25 and continue until the position is filled. To ensure full consideration of your application, we encourage you to apply by October 25th, 2026.

About Idiap

Idiap is a research institute of national importance that engages in fundamental research, education and technology transfer in artificial intelligence, machine learning and signal processing. Idiap offers competitive salaries and conditions in a young, high-quality, dynamic, and multicultural environment. Idiap is located in the town of Martigny in Valais, a scenic region in the south of Switzerland, surrounded by the highest mountains of Europe, and offering exceptional quality of life, exciting recreational activities, including hiking, climbing and skiing, as well as varied cultural activities. English is the official working language.

At Idiap we place great emphasis on diversity and we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. Employment at Idiap is based solely on a person's merit and qualifications. Idiap does not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, marital status, pregnancy, or any other basis protected by law.

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