Jan Fras,
PhD Student

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About me

I am a PhD student at Queen Mary University of London, School of Engineering and Materials Science. I am a member of Advanced Robotics at Queen Mary group (ARQ) led by prof. Kaspar Althoefer. My research focuses on soft robotics, in particular on soft actuation.
Simultaneously I am a Robotics Research Engineer in Ocado Technology where we work on novel and groundbreaking robotic solutions!

Resume

Education:

  • 06/2016 - present:
    Queen Mary University of London
    PhD in Engineering, Soft Robotics
    • Soft swimming octopus robot project
    • Soft prosthetic hand project
  • 02/2013 - 01/2015:
    Warsaw University of Technology
    Master of Science in Engineering, Automatic Control and Robotics
    Master's thesis: Data fusion system for STIFF-FLOP project (soft manipulator)
    Final grade: 5.0 (verygood)
  • 10/2011 - 03/2016:
    Warsaw University of Technology
    Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Computer Science
    6 semesters accomplished
  • 10/2009 - 02/2013:
    Warsaw University of Technology
    Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Automatic Control and Robotics
    Bachelor thesis: Designing, building and programing a hexapod robot
    Final grade: 5.0 (very good)
  • 10/2010 - 06/2011:
    University of Warsaw
    Bachelor of Science, Physics
    2 semesters accomplished

Professional experience:

  • 12.2019 - present:
    Ocado Technology
    • Robotics Research Engineer
  • 07/2018 - 10/2018:
    Oculus Research/Facebook Reality Labs
    • Research Intern
      • AR Glove Team
  • 07/2012 - 01/2020:
    Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements PIAP
    • Robotics engineer & project manager:
      • Autonomous submarine robot projects Sledzik and Sabuvis (mapping, navigation, autonomous behavior)
      • EU R5COP project (computer vision, human-machine interfaces, stereo-vision based teleoperation - using Oculus DK2 Headset)
      • Soft robot control and simulation project Softbot (project management, computer vision, depth perception and modeling)
      • Engineering autonomous platform project WIPH (mapping and navigation)
      • EU STIFF-FLOP project, soft medical manipulator for minimal invasive surgery (mechanical design, modeling, data fusion and software integration)

    • Internship
      • Hexapod walking robot project (mechanical design, control algorithms and firmware development)
      • GSM module for mobile robotics (firmware development)

Languages:

  • Polish (native)
  • English (IELTS score 7.0, 2016)

Skills:

  • Programming languages
    Python, C, C++, C#, Java, MATLAB, LaTeX
  • Environments
    Unix, Robot Operating System, Cad software (Inventor, Fusion 360, AutoCad), LabView, KiCad, STM micro controllers, Arduino, etc

Other:

  • 2011, Texas
    SAE Aerodesign East Competition, 1st place - Advanced Class
  • 2009, Poland
    National Physics Olympiad finalist
  • 2004 - present
    Flying aircraft modeler
  • 2000 - 2007
    Long distance runner - 2007 8th place in National Polish Youth Olympics, 3000m

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