We are offering  Master Thesis – Evaluation of a Robot-assisted Sensor Platform for the 3-dimensional Survey of Plant Shoots

Would you like to contribute to solutions to climate change and food and biomass resource scarcity? Work with us at the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences – Plant Sciences (IBG-2) on innovative use, production, and technology concepts related to crop resilience to climate change. Conduct interdisciplinary research in international teams (EU Root2Resilience project) using state-of-the-art sensors and measurement concepts in the laboratory and greenhouse, and field.

Would you like to contribute to more than 10 years of experience in plant phenotyping and knowledge-based research in bio-economy? We have a new facility prototype for an automated acquisition of image and LASER data of plants that includes a robot-assisted sensor platform. The data is further processed to generate three-dimensional representations of the plant shoot. Within this master thesis three different sensory concepts will be explored with respect to their applicability in different shoot architectures.

Your Job:

  • Working in our greenhouse to grow plants for your case studies with selected plant species
  • Developing new measurement protocols for different plant-sensor combinations
  • Optimizing and calibrate sensor configurations and measurement geometries
  • Estimating the accuracy and error for different methods with the help of artificial targets
  • Processing the raw data further to compute 3d reconstructions with existing software (or with own software tools)
  • Deriving simple shoot parameters like leaf area and leaf inclination with different case studies

Your Profile:

  • An ongoing master program in biology, physics, optical engineering and image processing or a related discipline
  • Training / experience and/or interest in technical facilities / devices
  • Experience in image processing and application of optical sensors (e.g. camera or LASER-based methods) is desirable
  • Basic skills in a programming language (e.g. Python) for further data processing is an advantage
  • Team spirit and autonomous method of working
  • Very good oral and written German and English language skills

Our Offer:

The IBG-2 – Plant Sciences offers a unique, interdisciplinary working environment, where we investigate structural plant properties, the dynamics of processes and the plant-environment interactions. We develop new sensory concepts and measurement protocols and use them in semi or fully automated facilities. We work on the very latest issues that impact our society and are offering you the chance to actively help in shaping the change! We support you in your work with:

  • A world-class infrastructure and expertise in plant phenotyping methodologies
  • The chance of qualifying yourself in a highly relevant state-of-art scientific topic
  • An ideal framework for practical experience besides your studies
  • An interesting, relevant and future-orientated topic for your master thesis
  • An independent preparation and implementation of delegated tasks
  • Qualified supervision via experts
  • Flexible working hours and reasonable remuneration
  • The position is for a fixed term of 6 months


We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, e.g. in terms of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation / identity, and social, ethnic and religious origin. A diverse and inclusive working environment with equal opportunities in which everyone can realize their potential is important to us.

We look forward to receiving your application. The job will be advertised until the position has been successfully filled. You should therefore submit your application as soon as possible.

Apply now

Leave a Reply

%d