Oportunities for Research

Our students are encouraged to follow their own research directions, though some of our projects have plenty of scope for collaborative participation. University Postgraduate Awards are available for outstanding students from Australia and there are special scholarships for outstanding overseas students.

Resources Available

The robotics and mechatronics lab supports a diversified programme of robotics and automation research projects, particularly for students. Equipment includes state of the art PC workstations for computationally intensive work and software development, an ABB1400 electric industrial robot with 6 degrees of freedom and 0.1 mm repeatability, video cameras and image frame grabbers for machine vision research, and a wide selection of robotics and automation components. We have a well-stocked library with scholarly journals and catalogues, and several software packages, both commercial and non-commercial. Each graduate student normally has his or her own desk (in a shared office) with a recent model PC workstation for personal use.

The Robotics and Automation Group is part of a campus-wide network of research teams interested in robotics, artificial intelligence, computer vision and cognitive science.

Collaborative projects with industry usually are well supported by the industrial partner. The sheep shearing project, for example, had a well equipped laboratory with specialized robots, computers, workshop facilities and support staff. Internal research projects have to be planned to make use of existing equipment as far as possible.

What to to do Next? Interested?

If you are in Perth, or visiting Australia, please visit us. You are welcome at any time except between Christmas and about one week after New Year when the whole University closes. The department E-mail address for reference is mmadmin@mech.uwa.edu.au.

Before coming to work with us, you must:

1) Make sure you can support yourself financially.

Fees for postgraduates are about Au$20,000 each year (1 Au$ is about US0.66). Living costs are as follows (2003):

• Rent: $100 - $180 per week (shared, single accommodation) $190 - $400 per week (family)
• Car: $2,000 - $6,000 (older used cars, essential for family)
• Food: $80 - $200 per week per person
• College Residence for Students (all meals included, recreation facilities) $260 per week.
• You will need to allow for large payments in the first 4 weeks. On arrival, a furnished room in a hotel or apartment block will cost $25 - $150 per night. It takes about 10 days to 2 weeks to arrange longer-term accommodation, and you will be expected to pay about 7 weeks rent when you sign a lease to rent an apartment (4 weeks rent is a security deposit which will be returned to you at the end of the lease provided you leave the apartment in good condition). Allow for spending at least $7,000 in the first 6 weeks.

There are scholarships for postgraduate students which pay fees and an allowance for living expenses, but competition for these is tough, particularly for students from overseas.

For information on postgraduate enrolment, scholarship applications, etc, refer to:

http://www.admissions.uwa.edu.au/ and

http://www.international.uwa.edu.au/Postgraduate/main.asp?page=apply

The University has a major International Centre for Overseas Students which provides useful information.

2) If you are from overseas, make sure you can obtain a suitable visa.

Ask your nearest Australian Diplomatic Representative (http://www.dfat.gov.au/). Information on student and visitor visas can be obtained from the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs in Canberra - see http://www.immi.gov.au/.

Note that IELTS tests are the only permitted certification of English Proficiecy. TOEFL tests are not sufficient. If you are fully sponsored by your own government, you do not have to demonstrate your English language proficiency to obtain a student visa. However, to meet the University requirements for English proficiency, you will have to have IELTS test results or demonstrate that you have a prior degree at an English language university.

Please note that visa requirements change frequently: you must check with the Australian Government representative or their web pages for current regulations and requirements. Please note that government representatives are sometimes not aware of detailed aspects of regulations: the web pages are the authoratative source of information.

3) Apply to us for a place in our research programme. See separate instructions below.

Undergraduate students (before final year)

We offer vacation jobs (December - February, advertised in October and November each year), but interested undergraduate students are welcome to participate at any time. Some part-time paid work may be available at other times.

Undergraduate students (final year)

Several students in Mechanical Engineering will work in the laboratory on final year projects each year. We have also had honours students from Materials Engineering, Computer Science, Civil Engineering, and Electrical Engineering, all working under joint supervision arrangements. Apply for projects from July each year onwards.

Postgraduate Students - Masters, PhD.

Please send us an application letter that must tell us why you want to come here, what interests you, and (most importantly) what you think you will be able to achieve by working with us.

In the letter, you should show some understanding of what we are trying to achieve here, and the particular constraints which affect us here. To do this, you must read about our research and similar research done elsewhere, and then write about your own ideas in relation to what you have read. If you would like copies of our papers, please ask. You could prepare this as a separate "report" (no more than 10 pages with references and diagrams) to be sent with your application letter.

You also need to explain how you will support yourself. Sometimes part-time work is available in the department on teaching and research projects, but this should not be relied on as a sole source of income. Our department can offer limited scholarship funds in exceptional circumstances.

2) A full CV and list of publications and patents.

3) A recent photograph of yourself.

4) Samples of your recent work which may include published or unpublished scientific and research papers, designs, reports, drawings or product brochures. You can specify world wide web address for this material if you wish, but we prefer that you send original documents if possible. We have people in our department who can read many languages if your work is not in English, including Indonesian, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese), Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, French, German, Russian, Polish, Persian, Croatian, Serbian, Italian, Urdu, Hindi, Greek, and Arabic.

Send all of these (registered post) to

Assoc. Professor James Trevelyan,
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering,
The University of Western Australia,
Nedlands 6907,
Western Australia.

Documents which arrive in late December may not be read until March because our long teaching break runs from December till the end of February, and many of us work away from the office at that time. If in doubt, communicate by E-mail tomake sure documents have arrived safely.

Visitors/interns (self supported) - 4 week to 24 month visits by researchers or engineers.

1) An application letter, which must tell us why you want to come here, what interests you, and (most importantly) what you think you will be able to achieve by working with us.

In the letter, you should show some understanding of what we are trying to achieve here, and the particular constraints which affect us here. To do this, you must read about our research and similar research done elsewhere, and then write about your own ideas in relation to what you have read. If you would like copies of our papers, please ask. You could prepare this as a separate "report" (no more than 10 pages with references and diagrams) to be sent with your application letter.

You also need to explain how you will support yourself. Sometimes part-time work is available in the department on teaching and research projects, but this should not be relied on as a sole source of income. Our department can offer limited scholarship funds in exceptional circumstances.

2) A full CV and list of publications and patents.

3) A recent photograph of yourself.

4) Sample(s) of your recent work (max 10 pages) which may include published or unpublished scientific and research papers, designs, reports, drawings or product brochures. You can specify world wide web address for this material if you wish, but we prefer that you send original documents if possible. We have people in our department who can read many languages if your work is not in English, including Indonesian, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese), Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, French, German, Russian, Polish, Persian, Croatian, Serbian, Italian, Urdu, Hindi, Greek, and Arabic.

5) If you are an internship student (not yet graduated) you must include evidence that your performance in your internship will count towards your degree assessment.

Send all of these (registered post or electronic) to

Professor James Trevelyan,
School of Mechanical Engineering,
The University of Western Australia,
Crawley 6009,
Western Australia.