[alife] PhD scholarships: Evolution of Communication in Robot Societies

[Steffen Wischmann]

Applications are invited for two PhD scholarships within the project 
"Evolution of Communication in Robot Societies" at the Laboratory of 
Intelligent Systems, EPFL, Lausanne (http://lis.epfl.ch).

The project will be conducted in close collaboration with the Department 
of Ecology and Evolution of the University of Lausanne. The aim of the 
project is to use a combination of methods borrowed from biology to 
study the evolution of cooperation and communication in animal societies 
and of methods borrowed from engineering to carry out artificial 
evolution in robot colonies. This interdisciplinary approach will shed 
light on the evolution of communication in animals for which there is no 
fossil record and provide guidelines for the design of robots and 
algorithms that can spontaneously engage in communication and social 
interactions in partially unknown and dynamic environments (see, for 
instance, Floreano et al., Current Biology, 17, 2007).

In order to be eligible for a PhD curriculum, candidates must be 
accepted by the EPFL doctoral program in Computer, Communication, and 
Information Sciences. Further information and online application forms 
are available at http://phd.epfl.ch/page55508.html In the application 
form, please mention the name of Prof. Dario Floreano and of the project.

Interested applicants should also e-mail pdf files with a curriculum 
vitae, a statement of interest, and contact addresses of at least two 
reference persons to Dario.Floreano at epfl.ch Please mention the name of 
the project in the subject field of the e-mail.

Successful candidates are expected to work systematically on 
theories/models in the above mentioned interdisciplinary areas and to 
conduct robotic experiments. Prior knowledge in related fields of 
interest and good programming skills will be an advantage. Candidates 
must have a good command of the English language and a strong commitment 
to science.