Mechatronics Planning & Motion Control Internship

The start date: as soon as possible

The length: min. 6 months (preferably 8 months)

It's possible to write the thesis with this internship

At Philips Image Guided Therapy, we make the difference in minimally invasive treatment to improve patient outcomes and save lives. With our image-guided therapy systems, we aim to remove barriers to safer, more effective, and more reproducible treatments. Philips Azurion is the next generation image-guided therapy platform. Azurion is designed to consistently and efficiently help the user navigate equipment (such as catheters) inside arteries or veins, as well as to help visualize in three dimensions the anatomic regions of interest. Together, we open doors to new procedures and techniques that truly make a difference to people’s lives.

The context of this assignment is within the Mechatronics Department. Being able to correctly position and orient the X-ray beam of the Azurion system in any angulation and rotation combination, with respect to the region of interest in the patient body, is the main responsibility of our department.

Problem description:

This MSc thesis targets the planner–controller interface: (1) find optimal OMPL planner settings for representative scenarios, and (2) design and validate a control strategy—such as MPC or a well-engineered feedforward/feedback scheme—to smoothly and robustly follow the planned paths while meeting velocity/acceleration/jerk limits.

The Open Motion Planning Library (OMPL) offers a wide family of planners (e.g., PRM/PRM*, RRT/RRTConnect, RRT*, Informed RRT*, BIT*, FMT*, T-RRT) whose performance depends strongly on configuration and environmental structure (narrow passages, clutter, curvature demands) as well as on the state-space metric, collision-checking resolution, and termination criteria. Even when a high-quality geometric path is found, executing it on real hardware requires time-parameterization and a controller that achieves smooth, constraint-respecting motion under model errors and sensing noise.

Assignment:

• For a given IGT configuration (e.g. FlexArm) and representative maps/tasks (e.g. from Park to Work), determine which OMPL planners and parameter settings maximize success rate and path quality under a planning-time budget.
• Analyze how post-processing and time-parameterization (e.g., shortcutting, B-spline smoothing, curvature-aware speed profiling) affect trackability (tracking error, jerk, control effort).
• Evaluate which controller architecture (MPC vs. feedforward+PID/LQR/Stanley/Pure Pursuit) best tracks the time-parameterized path subject to constraints, and assess sensitivity to modeling errors and disturbances.

Your role:

• Research and implement off-the-shelf planning and motion control algorithms to realize the desired execution trajectories.
• Achieve a reproducible benchmark identifying near-optimal planner configurations per scenario.
• Design a controller that executes those plans with low tracking error and smooth motion, and provide a principled comparison against a strong baseline.
• Define clear design rules connecting environment features and robot limits to planner settings and controller choices.
• Learn about advanced motion control, algorithm development, and practical application in medical device systems, with exposure to both research and implementation.
• Gain hands-on experience with real-world medical technology, contribute to innovative solutions, and be involved in both research and development phases.

You're the right fit if:

• You are currently studying at the Master’s level in mechatronics or a related field.
• You have a strong background in motion control (mechatronics) and experience with MATLAB/Simulink.
• You possess C++ skills and are familiar with translating algorithms to code.
• You have strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• You are a team player, contributing to effective teamwork and offering your point of view.

How we work together

We believe that we are better together than apart. For our office-based teams, this means working in-person at least 3 days per week.

• Monthly full-time allowance between €500 - €700 gross, depending on educational level and whether you need to relocate to The Netherlands. For part-time internships, the allowance is pro-rata.
• Housing compensation if relocating to the vicinity of the office: €300 net if in the vicinity of Amsterdam, €255 net for all other Philips locations. A rental contract is required, and your normal home-work travel distance must be more than 50 km or travel time (one way) more than 1.5 hours.
• Travel compensation, if not eligible for a free public transport card: up to €192 net.
• Paid holidays per internship term.
• The opportunity to buy Philips equipment at our Philips shop.

About Philips

We are a health technology company. We built our entire company around the belief that every human matters, and we won't stop until everybody everywhere has access to the quality healthcare that we all deserve. Do the work of your life to help the lives of others.