PhD Studentship - Agentic AI for Human–Robot Collaboration in Industrial Environments

About the role

We are seeking a talented PhD student to investigate Agentic AI for human–robot collaboration, focusing on how intelligent machines can understand goals, generate task plans, and work safely and effectively alongside human operators in industrial settings.

Responsibilities

• Investigating how large language models can generate goal-oriented robotic programs from natural language task descriptions and contextual information.
• Developing agentic AI architectures that allow robots to plan, reason, and adapt in collaboration with human operators.
• Exploring human–AI interaction mechanisms that enable robots to learn from human demonstrations, feedback, and shared task execution.
• Integrating perception, digital twins, and AI reasoning systems to enable context-aware human–robot collaboration.
• Testing and validating the developed approaches on industrial robotic demonstrators performing collaborative manipulation or assembly tasks.

Requirements

You should have, or be expected to receive, a first or upper second-class degree in robotics, computer science, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, or a related discipline.

You are a UK home student (or have equivalent status).

You are interested in the intersection of AI, robotics, and human–machine collaboration.

You have experience with programming (e.g., Python/C++), machine learning frameworks, or robotics software environments such as ROS.

You are motivated to work in a multi-disciplinary research environment combining engineering, AI, and human factors.

Qualifications

The successful candidate will receive full funding for tuition fees and a tax-free stipend, along with access to world-class research facilities and training opportunities.

You will also benefit from mentoring and collaboration opportunities with academic and industrial partners working on the future of AI-enabled manufacturing.

Skills

The ideal candidate will have strong analytical skills, excellent problem-solving abilities, and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively.

Benefits

The successful candidate will receive full funding for tuition fees and a tax-free stipend, along with access to world-class research facilities and training opportunities.

Pay

TBD

Schedule

Full Time