PhD position in Soft Robotics Systems

You will take musculoskeletal soft robots from concept to working prototype: conceiving the architecture, designing and fabricating the structural and actuation elements, integrating sensing and control, and validating performance through systematic real-world testing. Each design cycle feeds the next, so rapid prototyping, measurement, and iteration sit at the heart of the project. Drawing inspiration from biological musculoskeletal systems, you will engineer how bones, joints, tendons, and muscles can be recreated with compliant materials and actuators, and how their interplay produces strength, dexterity, and robustness. The goal is to build robots that derive much of their capability from their embodiment, achieving rich, adaptive behavior with less reliance on complex centralized control. You will combine hands-on mechanical design, fabrication, and experimental testing with modeling, actuation, and control to deliver complete, functional robots, ranging from single actuated joints to integrated multi-segment limbs and full musculoskeletal bodies. Close, day-to-day collaboration with the lab’s machine learning team and its muscles team will be required and is key to the project: you will integrate learning-based control and sensing with the team’s biological and artificial muscle technology to build robots that no single discipline could achieve alone.

The Soft Robotics Lab within the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich is inviting applications for an open doctoral position. We are looking for an exceptional, hands-on engineer to design, build, and bring to life the next generation of artificial musculoskeletal robots. Our lab's goal is to build, model, and control robots in a fundamentally different way, so that they become more flexible, dexterous, capable, and adapt better to their environment. The lab has showcased its research in robotic design and algorithms through real-world applications such as a robotic fish for underwater locomotion, soft robotic hands for pick-and-place tasks, and multi-segment arms for dynamic object manipulation.

• Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, robotics, mechatronics, electrical engineering, or a closely related field

• Demonstrated hands-on experience building physical systems: prototyping, CAD, fabrication (e.g. 3D printing, machining, molding), electronics, or robot integration

• A bias toward action: you like to build, test, break, and iterate quickly rather than stay purely in simulation

• Working knowledge of actuation, mechanism design, control, or embedded systems, and a willingness to grow across the full robotics stack

• Prior research experience demonstrated through a Master’s thesis, research project, or equivalent work, with strong written and spoken English

• Strong motivation for interdisciplinary, experimental research and the curiosity to develop new skills throughout the PhD

• A collaborative, supportive mindset and the drive to make a real difference with your research

• Background or interest in soft robotics, bio-inspired design, or musculoskeletal systems is a plus