Manifold Research Group tackles ambitious, high-impact research problems that traditional institutions overlook—those too engineering-intensive for academia and too exploratory for industry. Inspired by coordinated research models like ARPAs and FROs, we coordinate focused, cross-functional teams and a large asynchronous research contributor pool to systematically pursue and deliver paradigm-shifting science and technology.
Rapid Reconfiguration
Rapid Reconfiguration is a research project focused on developing modular robotic systems capable of quickly and reliably morphing into any desired configuration. The project explores decentralized planning and coordination strategies that allow robotic collectives to reorganize their physical structure in real-time.
This work requires developing mathematical frameworks for representing structure, connectivity, and transformation, as well as algorithms that enable scalable, decentralized reconfiguration under constraints such as locality, communication limits, and structural integrity.
The Role
OS Team members form the core of Manifold Research Group. As an OS Research Fellow, you will contribute to the mathematical foundations of the Rapid Reconfiguration project.
In this role, you will be responsible for:
- Developing mathematical formulations for modular robotic structures and reconfiguration processes
- Modeling connectivity, topology, and transformation constraints in multi-agent systems
- Designing and analyzing decentralized algorithms for reconfiguration and coordination
- Studying properties such as convergence, feasibility, and scalability of reconfiguration strategies
- Supporting translation of theoretical results into implementable algorithms and simulations
Qualifications
Outstanding research emerges from individuals who can rigorously formalize problems while maintaining connection to real systems. For this role, we are looking for:
- Strong background in applied mathematics, control theory, optimization, or related fields
- Experience with graph theory, dynamical systems, or multi-agent systems
- Ability to formulate and analyze complex systems with clear mathematical structure
- Familiarity with translating mathematical models into computational implementations
- Comfort working in ambiguous research settings with evolving problem definitions
Expectations
There are a few key expectations and clarifications regarding the OS Research Team:
- Contribute approximately 10 hours per week to ensure meaningful progress and deep engagement with our projects. Flexibility around life commitments is understood; clear, proactive communication helps us support each other.
- Our working language is English, and strong proficiency is required to clearly communicate technical concepts without confusion or misunderstanding.
- This is a volunteer effort; none of us receive compensation of any kind, including monetary payment, academic credit, or other formal incentives. Our commitment is driven entirely by shared passion for impactful research.
More information on OS Research Team expectations is available here.
We look forward to seeing your application, and hopefully working together soon!