PhD TactoChem – Signal Amplification and Processing

A sense of touch allows us to handle objects with fine motor skills and navigate the complexities of everyday life. Robots struggle with even simple tasks, because their sensing capabilities remain limited. It is incredibly hard to achieve the level of sophistication and high-density integration of sensing, signal processing, and movement that comes so naturally to us. This project, funded by an European Starting Grant, aims to develop a new class of chemical touch sensors that can be incorporated into robotic prototypes.

What are you going to do?

Join a rapidly expanding team of PhD students and Postdocs, shape a rapidly emerging field with your insights, and become a forerunner in chemically-driven robotics. The core objective of this PhD project is to amplify mechanochemical signals through chemical reactions and transport them across soft robotic hands to enable a sense of touch in robots. Leverage your systems chemistry and/or microfluidics background and learn more about polymer chemistry, rapid prototyping, and cutting edge analytical techniques.

Your main tasks will include to:

• Develop soft robotic components with microfluidic channels that can transport chemical signals.

• Establish chemical reaction networks that allow for amplification of mechanochemical signals and quantify their behaviour, supported by kinetic modelling.

• Work with soft materials and 3D design and understand how signals travel through materials and activate movement responses.

• Develop a systems chemistry approach to employ mechanophores for robotics.

• Excel in a top chemistry group with top-notch infrastructure.