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 assemble focused, cross-functional teams to systematically pursue and deliver paradigm-shifting science and technology.
Damage Responsive Reconfiguration
Develop adaptive control strategies for modular robotic structures that respond to damage in the manner of living organisms by sensing failure, redistributing load, and reorganizing to restore function. Your work will lay the foundations for robotic homeostasis and self-maintaining machines capable of long-term survival in space and other extreme environments.
The Role
OS Team members form the core of Manifold Research Group. As an OS Research Fellow, you'll actively drive our ambitious projects, from initial roadmapping and technical implementation to writing impactful papers.
In this project, you'll be working on:
- Designing adaptive control strategies that allow modular robotic structures to detect damage and autonomously reorganize to preserve function.
- Developing algorithms for load redistribution, module reassignment, and structural rerouting in response to partial failure.
- Drawing inspiration from biological homeostasis and regeneration to create self-stabilizing, self-maintaining robotic architectures.
- Validating your methods through simulation, theoretical analysis, and failure injection experiments, with the goal of producing high-impact research results.
Qualifications
Outstanding research emerges from driven, talented minds. For this project, we are looking for the following attributes:
- Demonstrated prior research experience, evidenced by published work in peer-reviewed conferences, journals, or recognized preprint platforms.
- Strong proficiency in Python, particularly with optimization frameworks and solvers such as Gurobi, CasADi, or CVXPY.
- Basic knowledge of linear algebra, graph theory, and optimization methods, with familiarity applying these to real-world research problems.
- Basic understanding of regeneration, homeostasis, and adaptive response in biological organisms, with an interest in translating these principles into robotic control.
- Basic understanding of orbital mechanics and astrodynamics, sufficient to work effectively on space systems-related problems.
Expectations
There are a few key expectations and clarifications we need to emphasize 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 a 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!