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Interactive Robotics and Intelligent Systems

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If you are an outstanding student with a strong interest in research, you are welcome to contact Dr. Keyvan Hashtrudi-Zaad via email to express your interest. When reaching out, please include your CV and academic transcripts. Please note that, due to the high volume of inquiries, only applicants being seriously considered for a position will receive a response.

Prospective graduate students are also strongly encouraged to apply early for competitive scholarship opportunities such as NSERC, OGS, and other major funding programs.

Current Available Positions

We currently have 4 open positions, with one new posted just recently. Please review the available graduate positions carefully, and ensure you read and follow all application instructions accurately when applying.

The Interactive Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) Laboratory conducts reserach in rehabilitation robotics and telerobotics.  IRIS lab is looking for a doctoral student in robotics for September 2026.

Required Expertise: Robotics, machine learning and control systems 

Favored Expertise/skills: Haptics and telerobotics; Hands-on experience with mechanical and electronic hardware, as well as computing systems.

Who Can Apply: Domestic and international candidates with a master’s degree in engineering (ECE, BIOMED, MECHATRONICS) and strong academic background (GPA>85%) and research track record (published work) are encouraged to apply. 

The research will take place at the IRIS Laboratory and Queen’s Ingenuity Lab Research Institute. The position is competitive and is funded with an annual stipend of ~C$29,500. Application is open to both international and domestic students. Priority will be given to domestic applicants. IRIS Lab is committed to employment equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace and encourages applications from equity deserving groups. 

NOTE: This position does not apply to candidates with a Bachelor’s degree. There is no direct path for the PhD program. 

Apply: Please send a digital copy of your transcripts and CV to Dr. Keyvan Hashtrudi-Zaad at  khz@queensu.ca. Use the subject line “PhD Position in Robotics for September 2026”.

With the advent of faster processing power, lower cost of electronics, and push for commercial head-mounted displays, virtual reality (VR) is becoming a reality and truly a formidable technological and market-driven force in revolutionizing the way we interact with machines and each other. 

Haptics refers to the sense of touch. Devices that excite human’s sense of touch are called haptic interfaces. The excitation from the interface can be at the “kinesthetic” level, represented by arm movements or forces, and at the “tactile” level, represented by low-amplitude high-frequency vibrations. We have projects for the design of haptic actuators at both levels.

Position 1: Master’s Research in Kinesthetic Haptics

“Kinesthetic” haptics is robotic technology that allows users to interact with computer-generated objects through their interactions with their haptic interfaces. Applications of these systems are in robotic-based training of surgeons and dentists. Haptic interfaces are primarily actuated in direct drive or with low transmission ratio. Therefore, they often cannot output human-level forces. In addition, haptic actuators are expected to deliver high torque at low speeds, which substantially reduces their efficiency and exposes them to significant stress and wear.

In this exciting project, we plan to develop integrated mechanical/electronic hardware and software technologies to convert certain DC motors and stepper motors into haptic actuators with high output torque. The project will be co-supervised by Dr. Keyvan Hashtrudi-Zaad and Dr. Majid Pahlevani from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Queen’s University. The research will be conducted at the Interactive Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) Laboratory and Centre for Energy and Power Electronics Research (ePOWER). 

Required Expertise/Skills: Hands-on-electronics, motors and drives; Power electronics

Favored Expertise/Skills: Robotics; Control systems; CAD design

Who Can Apply? Domestic candidates with strong academic background (GPA>85%) and

  1. Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) or Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering (MRE)
  2. Bachelor’s students invited to the ECE 4+1 Accelerated Master’s program.

Position 2: Master’s Research in Soft Vibrotactile Haptics

“Tactile” haptic interfaces are often made of eccentric rotating mass, linear resonant actuators, or voice coils, which cannot be reshaped.  We have developed our first magneto-responsive actuator using PCB coil magnets and magneto-responsive materials. In this exciting project, we plan to develop a soft wearable version of the actuator that can take the shape of the body! 

The project will be co-supervised by Dr. Keyvan Hashtrudi-Zaad from Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and and Dr. Matthew Robertson  from the Department of Mechanical and Materials  Engineering of Queen’s University. The research will be conducted at the Interactive Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) and Novel Engineering and Robotics Devices (NERD) laboratories. 

Required Expertise/Skills: Hands-on-electronics; CAD design

Favored Expertise/Skills: Robotics; Control systems

Who Can Apply? Domestic candidates with strong academic background (GPA>85%) and

  1. Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) or Mechanical and Engineering (ME), or Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering (MRE)
  2. Bachelor’s students invited to  the ECE or MME 4+1 Accelerated Master’s programs

The two positions are competitive and are funded with an annual stipend of ~C$27,500. Application is open only  to domestic students in Canada. IRIS Lab, ePOWER, and NERD lab are committed to employment equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace and encourages applications from equity deserving groups.

NOTE: These positions do NOT apply to international candidates.

Apply: Please send a digital copy of your transcripts and CV to Dr. Keyvan Hashtrudi-Zaad at khz@queensu.ca. Use the subject line “Master’s Positions in Mechatronics for September 2026”.

Background: Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability in Canada, with ~100,000 people experiencing a stroke every year. Stroke survivors often experience persistent loss of movement and function in their arm and hand. Rehabilitation promotes recovery through therapist-guided practice. However, stroke survivors often need more therapy than inpatient and community-based rehabilitation can provide, leaving many with incomplete recovery and unmet functional goals.
As an adjunct to usual care, home-based upper-limb robotic rehabilitation can offer progressive goal-oriented training with the potential to increase the hours of effective therapy, promote independent practice and save therapists’ time. As these systems are to be used without a clinician present, there are significant challenges to ensure their utilization and efficacy. Current home-based systems involve repetitively moving the robot along trajectories that have little connection to meaningful functional activities. This can lead to boredom, lack of engagement, and limited effect on recovery.
 
Research Description: The Interactive Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) Lab is developing rehabilitation robotic systems for home-based post-stroke upper-limb therapy. As part of a Connected Minds (CM) program, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Queen’s ECE, MME and School of Rehabilitation Therapy plan to further develop the robotic systems such that they safely support users to practice tasks that resemble activities of daily living (ADL). To this end, with the input from stroke survivors and therapists, the team will co-create a smart interface that enables meaningful communication with the robot, monitor the survivor’s posture and movement, and assess the therapy performance.
The interface will include a glove, a graphical user interface (GUI) and intelligent algorithms to process the data. The glove will be equipped with pressure and miniature Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors to wirelessly measure the grasp and pinch forces and estimate the hand and forearm posture. The collected data will be fed to probabilistic models that output a likelihood or error score reflecting the similarity /difference of the performed task by the survivor to a healthy population. Kinetic and kinematic metrics will be used to characterize performance. These models will be trained using the data collected from healthy participants. The GUI will facilitate operating the robotic system and provide feedback to the stroke survivor and the therapist on therapy progression.
The research will primarily take place at the Ingenuity Labs Research Institute (IL) in Mitchell Hall and IRIS  Lab in Walter Light Hall. The graduate student will be a student member of the CM and IL, and will benefit from various technical and social activities organized by CM and IL. The student will be co-supervised by Dr. K. Hashtrudi-Zaad and Dr. Nasim Montazeri, and advised by Dr. Vincent DePaul (Rehab Therapy).
 
Research Activities: The students is expected to
  • Attend the co-creation focus group sessions with stroke survivors and therapists
  • Assist in developing and fabricating the smart glove
  • Develop and evaluate machine learning algorithms for performance assessment of therapy
  • Co-develop a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for graphical rendering of the tasks
  • Technically assess the integrated systems of the glove and GUI
 
Who Can Apply? Domestic candidates with strong academic background (GPA>85%) and
  • BASc degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) or Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering (MRE) in September 2026
  • Queen’s ECE and MRE undergraduate students invited to the ECE 4+1 Accelerated Master’s programs
     
The MASc position is competitive and is funded with an annual stipend of ~C$27,500. IRIS Lab is committed to employment equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace and encourages applications from equity deserving groups.
 
Application & Deadline: Please send a digital copy of your transcripts and CV to Dr. Keyvan Hashtrudi-Zaad at khz@queensu.ca by Wednesday March 18, 2026 . Please use the subject line “Master’s Positions in Intelligent Rehabilitation Robotics for September 2026”.