Students Projects
Master Thesis / Bachelor Thesis / Internship / Forschungspraxis (EI)
Important! When applying to any project, please always include your CV and academic transcript to allow us to evaluate your application.
Contact-Aware Reinforcement Learning for Humanoid Robots
We are seeking a highly motivated student to join our team. In this Master’s thesis, you will investigate contact-aware RL policies that allow a humanoid robot to both track natural motions and generate stable, effective contacts with the environment. [Contact us]
Keywords: Humanoid Robotics, Contact-Rich Manipulation, Loco-Manipulation, Reinforcement Learning
Your Tasks
• Review state-of-the-art methods in robot learning for humanoid motion tracking, with particular focus on leveraging forceful information in simulation.
• Implement a force predictor based on simulation data and utilize it for RL-based policies for humanoid robots in physics simulation
• Develop contact-aware reward functions or policy modules for contact-rich tasks
• Design and run simulation experiments such as object pushing, door interaction, or using environmental support
• Evaluate the capabilities and limitations of RL policies in terms of motion tracking, contact stability, task success, and robustness
Your Qualifications
• Strong interest in reinforcement learning, robotics, and physics-based simulation
• Very good knowledge of Python; experience with PyTorch, JAX, Isaac Gym, Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, or similar tools is a plus
• Basic understanding of robot learning, or motion imitation is beneficial
• Self-motivated, curious, and able to work independently
Plus:
• Prior experience in force control is preferred.
Relevant publication:
Zhi, Peiyuan, Peiyang Li, Jianqin Yin, Baoxiong Jia, and Siyuan Huang. "Learning a Unified Policy for Position and Force Control in Legged Loco-Manipulation." CoRL (2025).
Open applications
We welcome highly motivated students who wish to contribute but find that their interests are not reflected in our current projects.
If you have an idea in mind, please reach out to us with your proposal. Always include your CV and academic transcripts to allow us to evaluate your application. [Contact us]