Post Doctoral Fellow - Automated Robotic Surface Repair

Department: Mechanical Engineering Salary: Commensurate with Experience/Education

Description

Possesses, understands, and applies a comprehensive knowledge in area of specialization. Develops understanding and skills to allow for completion of assignments that cross fields of specialization. Develops leadership and management skills.

• Receives/Reviews progress and evaluates results of experiments or projects under control or supervisory responsibility.
• Recommends changes in research, testing or experimental procedures.
• May be responsible for a single highly technical and complex piece of research equipment.
• May review and evaluate the effectiveness of personnel.
• May plan for and assign personnel to projects under control.
• Operates with latitude for unreviewed action.
• May receive general supervision conferring with higher levels only in unusual situations.
• Performs other job-related duties as required.

Position Summary

We are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate to work on an automated robotic system for surface damage detection and additive repair. The project combines 3D scanning, computational geometry, and collaborative robot control into an end-to-end pipeline — from scanning and damage detection through toolpath generation and robot-executed repair. The postdoc will work across both the algorithms and hands-on robotics sides of the project.

Responsibilities

• Develop algorithms for 3D surface damage detection, repair surface reconstruction, and conformal toolpath planning
• Program and operate a collaborative robot arm for automated scanning and material deposition
• Implement calibration routines, coordinate transforms, and robot motion strategies
• Conduct physical experiments to validate system performance on test specimens
• Develop software tools (Python, C++) for pipeline automation and operator interfaces
• Publish in peer-reviewed journals and support proposal writing

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, or closely related field
• Strong Python skills; working knowledge of C/C++
• Background in computational geometry, 3D mesh/point cloud processing, or sensor-robot calibration
• Hands-on experimental research experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with robot programming and control
• Experience with additive manufacturing, cold spray, or thermal spray
• Familiarity with 3D scanning systems or robot SDKs (ROS, vendor APIs)
• Background in surface metrology or defect detection

MQ: Requires singular knowledge of a specialized advanced professional discipline or the highest level of general business knowledge, normally acquired through attainment of a directly job-related terminal degree or equivalent formal training in a recognized field of specialization that is directly related to the type of work being performed. No experience is required.

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The University of Houston System and its universities are Equal Opportunity Institutions. Everyone is encouraged to apply.