Research Engineer for Statistical 3D Model of Quadrupeds

Research Engineer for Statistical 3D Model of Quadrupeds

The Optics and Sensing Laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems is looking for a Research Engineer.

They are creating the world’s most realistic human and animal avatars for use in research, film, virtual reality, biology and medicine.

Using unique 3D & 4D capture facilities, machine learning, computer vision and advanced graphics, they are modeling every nuance of how humans and animals look and move.

They develop algorithms to estimate human shape and motion in images, videos, RGB-D sequences, etc.

Their approaches define the current state of the art, and they are constantly pushing these methods and systems in order to achieve a better accuracy and greater usability.

The Project

Horses are one of the most beloved animals.

They are beautiful in shape and motion, they have been used for carrying people, goods, for helping in farming, for racing, and also for therapy.

They are interested in capturing horse motion from motion capture data, with the goal of building marker-less motion capture systems for horses.

They are collaborating with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and IMATI-CNR in developing a system for the markerless motion capture of horses.

Their approach is based on creating a highly realistic 3D articulated model of horses from data.

To this goal, they need to capture partial 3D scans of real animals and register them to a predefined horse template.

Doing this enables them to model the shape of real horses and the shape variability across a range of individuals with different characteristics.

In this research context, they are looking for talented research engineer to pursue the project.

• Investigation, implementation and evaluation of potential model improvements, for example: skeleton/joint paradigms, shape space encoding variations, pose dependent deformations, etc.
• Conceptualization and development of model evaluation procedures, including quantitative and qualitative metrics.
• Development of various Minimum-Viable-Product pipelines, including image/video mesh recovery models and use-case applications (e. g. body conformation scoring from model outputs).
• Enhancement of the process for re‑training and establishing a continuous learning pipeline.
• Improvement of established robust method for registering 3D parametric model templates to cleaned 3D scans.
• Project management: definition and evaluation of projects steps and directions.

Education & Experience

• Experience with 3D parametric body models (i. e. SMPL/MANO/ATLAS/VAREN/etc.)
• Experience in Computational Geometry, Computer Vision and Deep Learning
• Accepted publications in one of these fields is a big advantage
• Good programming skills in Python or C++; Py Torch (or similar) experience
• Project management experience and the ability to work independently in dynamic environments
• Experience in one or more of the following: Point-cloud libraries, Open CV, 3D rendering pipelines and deep-learning frameworks
• Good oral and written communication skills in Englis
• Enjoyment for collaborative work and multidisciplinary projects
• A minimum of a Master’s degree is required
• Experience writing production level code is a plus
• The offer

In this working environment, you will be exposed to cutting‑edge technologies related to computer vision and multi-sensor systems.

The MPI for Intelligent Systems is one of the world’s leading research institutions for machine learning, computer vision and robotics, and studying the concepts of intelligence and autonomous behavior in artificial systems at different length scales.

The position is ideally suited for candidates looking to extend their scientific and cultural horizons particularly in the area of 3D Motion Capture.

You will be a part of a dynamic team of international scientists, engineers, and administrative staff.

The Max Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals.

The Max Planck Society strives for gender equality and diversity.

Furthermore, the Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in its workforce in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply.

The position is available as of now and will be open until filled or no longer needed.

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