Scientific Engineer

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Job Profile

Job Title

Department

Compensation Range

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

This position is expected to be filled by promotion/reassignment and is included here to inform you of its vacancy at the University.

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

The Scientific Engineer will support the principal investigator (Dr Jean-Sébastien Blouin, School of Kinesiology), investigators in the School of Biomedical Engineering (Drs Manu Madhav, Calvin Kuo and Peter Cripton) and research trainees in the Sensorimotor Physiology Laboratory on human biomechanics and neurophysiology research projects. The Scientific Engineer will operate a KUKA KR500-3 robot recently installed in the basement of the newly constructed UBC School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) building. The recruited candidate will be responsible for all safety testing, emergency protocol development, standard operating procedures and creation of all trajectory formations for the KUKA robot. In addition, the candidate will supervised the human volunteer testing by research trainees.

This position also involves the rapid development of creative electrical/mechanical/mechatronics solutions to difficult engineering problems related to human experimentation such as integrating sensorimotor instrumentation with robot operations. Specific to the current project, the candidate will customize the industrial robot based on the project requirement. This includes rebuilding on their own the electrical power and electronic communication to operate the robot, the attachments for safe human volunteer testing and all instrumentation to collect kinetics, kinematics and electrophysiological data in human participants as per the project requirements. The candidate will also lead the design, development and building of unique human-machine interface where off-the-shelf solutions are not available for the research requirements.

Organizational Status
Reports directly to the Principal Investigator (Dr JS Blouin) and Dr P Cripton. Works closely with research team and trainees in the Sensorimotor Physiology Lab and School of Biomedical Engineering.

Work Performed

• Program, test, operate and maintain a KUKA KR500-3 robot recently installed in the basement of the newly constructed UBC School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) building.
• Rebuilding on the electrical power and electronic communication to operate the robot in its new environment
• Design, develop and build specific robot attachments for safe human volunteer testing
• Integrate instrumentation to collect kinetics, kinematics and electrophysiological data from human participants as per the project requirements.
• Lead the design, development and building of unique human-machine interfaces where off-the-shelf solutions are not available for the research requirements.
• Develop Standard Operating Procedures for laboratory equipment and mechatronics devices.
• Responsible for the development of all safety testing of the robot and emergency procedures.
• Design and build hardware (mechanical and electrical) for the safe operation of the KUKA robot.
• Develop the protocols for safe operation of the KUKA robot.
• Supervise the trajectory formation and human volunteer testing by trainees.
• Design and develop participants' seat and seatbelt for the robot as well as mounting structures for the data acquisition equipment.
• Design and develop of electrical circuits and components for the operation of the robot and synchronization with other equipment (VR, electrophysiology, motion capture, other).
• Oversees daily operations of the KUKA robot.
• Design, test and build mechanical, electrical and mechatronics devices for affiliated laboratories.
• Fine-tune experimental procedures for human volunteer testing.
• Train and supervise trainees and students in engineering for the design, test and building of mechanical, electrical and mechatronics devices for affiliated laboratories.
• Provide weekly updates on project status.
• Carry out all other related duties as required in keeping with the qualifications and requirements of positions in this classification.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

Inappropriate judgement would compromise the participant safety and ethical approval, thus affecting the credibility of the Investigators.

Inappropriate judgement would also compromise research success and the development of innovative procedures for human volunteer and crash test dummy testing.

Supervision Received
The employee will work with minimum supervision, receiving instruction only on unusual problems or on matters which depart significantly from established policy and procedures. The position requires a strong independent work ethic and a candidate capable of setting their priorities within a given framework, and working with multiple Investigators within agreed-upon milestones and timelines.

Supervision Given
Will have supervisory responsibilities of trainees regarding the safe use of the KUKA robot and other mechatronics devices

Minimum Qualifications:

Undergraduate degree in Engineering or Applied Science. Minimum of five years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one's own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one's own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

Undergraduate degree or higher in Electrical Engineering or related field with 10 years of extensive real-world experience in data acquisition and instrumentation related to human volunteer and crash test dummy testing is preferred

Level 2 (expert-level) certification by KUKA to operate an industrial six degree-of-freedom robot is preferred;

Experience with the KUKA software (KRL) and hardware for the generation of planned and human-in-the-loop six degree-of-freedom trajectories is preferred

Experience with the feedback control and tuning of linear and rotary motors for the generation and real-time control of smooth (minimal vibration) trajectories is preferred

Experience with the feedback control and tuning of linear and rotary motors for the generation of trajectories replicating real-world rollover impacts is preferred

Experience with designing/building/commissioning multi degree-of-freedom robots is preferred.

Experience with the design of commercial electrical systems for powering mechatronics devices up to 600V is preferred.

Experience with integrating fluoroscopy into robotic systems is a strong asset

Experience with human volunteer experimentation is preferred.

Exceptional organization and project management skills are preferred.

Experience collaborating with and mentoring graduate/undergraduate trainees is strongly preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

Understanding of electrophysiology approaches and the requirements/limitations for their integration with mechatronics devices for human volunteer testing is preferred

Understanding of motion capture approaches for human volunteer and crash test dummy testing is required.

A solid understanding of mechanics is an asset.

Understanding the safety principles underlying testing involving human volunteers is required.

Demonstrated ability to design and build electronic circuits and power systems.

Demonstrated ability to program real-time motion controllers.

Demonstrated ability to build mechanical devices for human volunteer testing.

Demonstrated ability to organize work and communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.

Demonstrated ability to write and maintain operating, safety, and emergency protocols

Demonstrated ability to work independently and in a team environment.

Demonstrated ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

Demonstrated excellence in organizational and decision-making skills.

Demonstrated creativity for solving complex problems related to the design of novel mechanical/electrical/mechatronics devices as well as human volunteer testing and real-time human-in-the-loop experimentation.

High attention to detail and accuracy.