Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Human acceptance of robotic systems
As the presence of robots in factories, logistic centers, health and elderly care, retail, and restaurants gets more usual, it is necessary to study the human acceptance of robotic systems. This can be done by in-depth interviews and questionnaires among users, combined with conceptual and statistical modeling.
This research is already known in automated driving systems, including driverless shuttles for public transport and automation in passenger vehicles (e.g., Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self Driving Beta), but has to be extended to areas such as agriculture, health, logistics, and industry. The research should include key determinants, such as trust, perceived usefulness, and perceived risk (Department Cognitive Robotics).

AI for smart diagnostics, monitoring, and control with applications in agriculture and health
Data-driven and model-based diagnostics and monitoring solutions for intelligent decision-making and control systems are becoming increasingly critical in meeting sustainable food production and health as well as ecological and societal goals in the 21st century. Therefore, we are looking for talents in these fields.
This includes AI-based control, planning, and decision making for large-scale systems; data-driven modeling for condition monitoring and control of large-scale systems; and integration of smart diagnostic methodologies and end-to-end decision-support system design; all with applications in agriculture and health (Department Delft Center for Systems and Control).

Sustainable Steelmaking
The sustainability transition of steelmaking is an important strategic challenge for metal scientists in academia and industry. The focus lies on the fundamental and applied aspects of various primary steelmaking technologies, and secondary steel refining down to solidification and casting and recycling. Close collaboration with industrial and other academic partners is foreseen in both research and education (Department Materials Science and Engineering).

Mechatronic systems
Future mechatronic systems will be characterized by a high degree of function integration in order to meet space and performance requirements as well as the desire to use less material and energy. This leads to embodiments where functions such as motion, transmission, actuation and sensing are spatially distributed and naturally intertwine, thus breaking new technological ground and achieve unprecedented performance in high-tech manufacturing equipment and biomedical technology. We are looking for talent in mechatronics systems to complement our expertise in a diverse and multidisciplinary team (Department Precision and Microsystems Engineering).

Smart industry and interconnected systems
Global challenges on resource availability, pollution and energy usage force industry of rethink current processes. With new technological trends in the areas of autonomization, connectedness, artificial intelligence and renewable energy, there is a strong need forinnovative design of large scale interconnected industrial systems and processes with focus on control and fault detection. (Department Maritime & Transport Technology). Application areas are ports and waterways and inland shipping. We are searching talent to reinforce our research in the above field.