Back to search results

PhD Studentship in Mechanical Engineering: Improve Motor Learning in Children through Connecting Robots

Newcastle University

Qualification Type: PhD
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
Funding for: UK Students
Funding amount: Not Specified
Hours: Full Time
Placed On: 3rd October 2024
Closes: 11th November 2024
Reference: ENG130

Award summary

100% of home fees covered, and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate).

Overview

Many real-life scenarios involve collaboration between two individuals, where the reliance on haptic communication arising from physical interactions is crucial. This project will investigate the mechanisms underlying the collaboration between humans, by physically coupling two individuals through robots.

The main objectives are: i) to investigate how to take full advantage of haptic communication for enhancing motor learning, studying how learning is affected by the levels of connection and how these can be optimised to improve the acquisition of new motor skills; ii) to apply the knowledge gathered from the use of connecting robots to a real-life application, i.e. to foster handwriting learning in primary school children while interacting with their teacher or caregiver.

The project is structured in two main phases.

Phase1: an experimental setup, involving two robotic manipulators connecting people during the execution of a common 3 DoF task, will be used in a set of experiments with two individuals with different motor skills, to define the optimal connection for enhancing the learning process to be used in phase2.

Phase2: the insights gathered from the lab experiments will be transferred to a real-life application, i.e. handwriting learning in children. This phase will include: a) the design of a haptic interface specifically devised for handwriting; b) validation of the developed setup on adults; c) assessment of handwriting learning in children.

Number of awards: 1

Start date: 6th January 2025

Award duration: 3.5 years

Sponsor: EPSRC

Supervisors

Lead Supervisor: Domenico Formica

Co-supervisor: Alessia Noccaro

External supervisor: Etienne Burdet

Eligibility criteria

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project (inc. computing, mathematics, engineering etc.). Enthusiasm for research, the ability to think and work independently, excellent analytical skills and strong verbal and written communication skills are also essential requirements.

This studentship is open to Home (UK) students only. Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills.

How to apply

You must apply through the University’s Apply to Newcastle Portal

Once registered select ‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.

Select 2024 as the ‘Year of entry’ for a January 2025 start date.

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify your programme of study: 

  • Search for the ‘Course Title’ using the programme code: 8090F
  • Research Area: Mechanical and Systems Engineering’
  • Select PhD Mechanical Engineering’ as the programme of study - September 2024’. Our PG Admissions staff will change the start date to January 2025 after you've applied.

You will then need to provide the following information in the ‘Further Details’ section:

  • A ‘Personal Statement’ (this is a mandatory field) - upload a document or write a statement directly in to the application form.
  • The studentship code ENG130 in the ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field.
  • When prompted for how you are providing your research proposal - select ‘Write Proposal’. You should then type in the title of the research project from this advert. You do not need to upload a research proposal.

Contact details: Domenico Formica Alessia Noccaro

We value your feedback on the quality of our adverts. If you have a comment to make about the overall quality of this advert, or its categorisation then please send us your feedback
Advert information

Type / Role:

Subject Area(s):

Location(s):

PhD tools
 

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Ok Ok

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Account Verification Missing

In order to create multiple job alerts, you must first verify your email address to complete your account creation

Request verification email Request verification email

jobs.ac.uk Account Required

In order to create multiple alerts, you must create a jobs.ac.uk jobseeker account

Create Account Create Account

Alert Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your account is currently blocked. Please login to unblock your account.

Email Address Blocked

We received a delivery failure message when attempting to send you an email and therefore your email address has been blocked. You will not receive job alerts until your email address is unblocked. To do so, please choose from one of the two options below.

Max Alerts Reached

A maximum of 5 Job Alerts can be created against your account. Please remove an existing alert in order to create this new Job Alert

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your alert was not created at this time. Please try again.

Ok Ok

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

 
 
 
More PhDs from Newcastle University

Show all PhDs for this organisation …

More PhDs like this
Join in and follow us

Browser Upgrade Recommended

jobs.ac.uk has been optimised for the latest browsers.

For the best user experience, we recommend viewing jobs.ac.uk on one of the following:

Google Chrome Firefox Microsoft Edge