PhD Position in EURECOM: Robot interaction for assisting the elderly in sharing content and socializing

PhD Position at EURECOM:
------------------------
http://www.eurecom.fr/resources/documents//0_Institut/Open_Positions/MM/MM_Phd_ALIAS_mai_2010_USx.pdf 


Title: Robot interaction for assisting the elderly in sharing content 
and socializing
Department: Multimedia Communications
URL: http://www.eurecom.fr/mm.en.htm

Start date: July or September 2010
Duration: 36 months

Description:
EURECOM’s Multimedia Communications Department invites applications for 
a full-time, fully-funded 36-month PhD position related to a project 
recently awarded from the EU Ambient Assisted Living joint research and 
development funding programme. The Adaptable Ambient LIving ASsistant 
(ALIAS) project aims to develop a mobile robot system that interacts 
with elderly users, monitors and provides cognitive assistance in daily 
life, and promotes social inclusion by creating connections to people 
and events in the wider world. One of ALIAS’s goals involves the 
development of novel interaction mechanisms, centered on the notion of 
event, for discovering, re-living and sharing media content within 
specialized social networks adapted for the elderly, and is to be 
developed through this research position. It requires the development of 
an expressive semantic model for representing personal events, 
techniques for finding related multimedia content and knowledge for 
promoting diverse and opinionated interaction. Ultimately, these 
techniques must help to sustain interaction between users sharing common 
interests while being mediated by the robot.

Requirements:
The successful candidate will have been awarded a Master’s degree in a 
relevant field of user centered design, user system interaction or 
artificial intelligence prior to their joining Eurecom. Previous 
experience in collaborative research and development projects at the 
European level is desirable though not mandatory. You will be highly 
motivated to undertake challenging, applied research and have excellent 
English language speaking and writing skills. French language skills are 
a bonus.

Applications:
Please send to the address below (i) a one page statement of research 
interests and motivation, (ii) your CV and (iii) contact details for two 
referees (preferably one from your master’s or most recent research 
supervisor) no later than 20th of June 2010.

Contact: Dr. Raphaël TRONCY
Postal address: 2229 Route des Crêtes BP 193, F-06904 Sophia Antipolis 
cedex, France
Email address: raphael.troncy@eurecom.fr

EURECOM is located in Sophia Antipolis, a vibrant science park on the 
French Riviera. It is in close proximity with a large number of research 
units of leading multi-national corporations in the telecommunications, 
semiconductor and biotechnology sectors, as well as other outstanding 
research and teaching institutions. A freethinking, multinational 
population and the unique geographic location provide a quality of life 
without equal.

-- 
Raphaël Troncy
EURECOM, Multimedia Communications Department
2229, route des Crêtes, 06560 Sophia Antipolis, France.
e-mail: raphael.troncy@eurecom.fr & raphael.troncy@gmail.com
Tel: +33 (0)4 - 9300 8242
Fax: +33 (0)4 - 9000 8200
Web: http://www.eurecom.fr/~troncy/

Received on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 13:38:27 UTC