Open Positions

 

PhD student

Joint position with Politecnico di Bari and in collaboration with EPFL

Research engineer

Business developer

PhD student position in Electroadhesion Tribology for dexterous Soft Robotic Grippers

Joint position between the Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management (DMMM) of Politecnico di Bari, with top-notch expertise in tribology, and Omnigrasp, a pioneering start-up creating soft grippers with electro-active contacts. Collaboration with EPFL in Switzerland, where the student will spend 6 months visiting.

Duration is 3 years, main working place is in Bari, Italy and the position is fully funded with a scholarship plus research funds.

Your goal will be to create the next generation of dexterous soft grippers that can grasp delicate and flexible objects, having negligible energy consumption and requiring little control. By making use of mechanical intelligence, demanding control tasks (force control, path planning, precise positioning) can be embedded into the gripper’s physical design. You will study tribology of electro-mechanical systems at the interface between the gripper and the object. The new scientific insight will be used to create novel architectures and select better materials. You will characterise the new gripper and validate it with Omnigrasp’s industry customers.


Your activities will include conducting theoretical and experimental research, writing academic papers, presenting your work at international conferences, writing patents on your inventions and supervising MSc students.

Work location will be at the DMMM of Politecnico di Bari. The DMMM has been selected as an excellent department by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. It is a young and dynamic environment with 80 permanent staff members and 20 M as annual funding, state of the art facilities for high-performance computing and for characterization of materials and surfaces. Omnigrasp is a university spin-off incubated in-between EPFL and Politecnico di Bari. Omnigrasp is also hosted within the DMMM, making it easy for the student to work in-between the two institutions. Omnigrasp received the BRIDGE POC grant from the Swiss National Science Foundations and is currently part of an EU-funded project involving 10 partners from 7 European countries. Collaborations are also in UK, Japan and US. Omnigrasp’s mission is to create soft robots to automate the most difficult automation tasks, with the minimum possible energy consumption and the simplest control.


Candidates must hold a Master in Engineering, Material Science, Physics or similar and show creativity and passion for innovation. Fluency in English is a requirement.  Starting date is October 2022. Candidates who lived abroad for more than two years might benefit from tax exemption by Italian government.

For further information send a cv and cover letter to Prof. Carmine Putignano carmine.putignano@poliba.it and Dr. Vito Cacucciolo vito.cacucciolo@omnigrasp.com with subject: PhD Position Omnigrasp.

References

Carbone, C. Putignano, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 2013.

Putignano, D. Dini, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2017.

Shintake, J., Cacucciolo, V., Floreano, D., Shea, H. Advanced Materials 2018.

Cacucciolo, V., Shea, H., Carbone, G., 2022. Extreme Mechanics Letters 2022.

Research Engineer


Research engineer position to
create the new generation of electro-active soft robotic grippers for handling difficult objects.

Main working place is in Bari, Italy. Competitive salary in line with experience and expertise. Opportunities to join a large international network of collaborators and customers (in over 5 countries).

Your goal will be to design new grippers with requirement specified by our customers. You will also be in charge of rapid prototyping of the gripper components and testing in pick and place scenarios. 

Work location is in Bari, a beautiful city on the southern Italian coast. Candidates who lived abroad for more than two years might benefit from tax exemption by Italian government.

Omnigrasp is a spin-off of Politecnico di Bari. It received the BRIDGE POC grant from the Swiss National Science Foundations and is currently part of an EU-funded project involving 10 partners from 7 European countries. Collaborations are also in UK, Japan and US. Omnigrasp’s mission is to create soft robots to automate the most difficult automation tasks, with the minimum possible energy consumption and the simplest control.

Candidates must hold a Bachelor or Master in Mechanical, Electrical, Automation Engineering or similar and have a passion for innovation. Position open until filled

For further information or to apply send a cv and short cover letter to Dr. Vito Cacucciolo vito.cacucciolo@omnigrasp.com with subject: Engineer Position Omnigrasp.

Business Developer


Help us disrupt the logistics and manufacturing markets with our revolutionary dexterous and low power soft gripper!

Your goal will be to find new customers, lead sales and validate the market for our soft grippers. You will also help us developing our business strategy.

We are looking for a proactive motivated candidate with industry experience that knows how to talk to companies and is enthusiastic about innovation. You must have demonstrated your ability to sell products and close contracts. Fluency in English is a requirement. A formal business education is a  plus.

Work location is in Bari, a beautiful city on the southern Italian coast. Candidates who lived abroad for more than two years might benefit from tax exemption by Italian government.

Omnigrasp is a spin-off of Politecnico di Bari. It received the BRIDGE POC grant from the Swiss National Science Foundations and is currently part of an EU-funded project involving 10 partners from 7 European countries. Collaborations are also in UK, Japan and US. Omnigrasp’s mission is to create soft robots to automate the most difficult automation tasks, with the minimum possible energy consumption and the simplest control.

For further information or to apply send a cv and short cover letter to Dr. Vito Cacucciolo vito.cacucciolo@omnigrasp.com with subject: Business Position Omnigrasp.