Internship: Robot-Assisted Toothbrush IMU Validation

Job Title

Job Description

Start Date: January/February 2027

Duration: minimum 6 months

Type: Internship

Weekly Presence: 40h (minimum 32h)

Location: Eindhoven

Internship: Robot-Assisted Toothbrush IMU Validation

Different toothbrushes use inertial measurement units (IMUs) to characterise brushing motion. To compare their measurements fairly, each brush should undergo the same physical motion. In this assignment, you will develop a repeatable test bench combining a 6-DOF robot arm (SeeedStudio reBot Arm B601-RS), OptiTrack motion capture system and toothbrush IMU sensors. Human brushing trajectories, recorded at 120 Hz as position and orientation data, will be transformed into safe robot trajectories and replayed. OptiTrack will independently measure the reproduced motion, enabling quantitative comparison of robot accuracy, repeatability and IMU responses across toothbrushes.

Your challenge: Build and validate a measurement protocol that separates true motion differences from sensor effects such as axis conventions, offset, scale, noise, filtering and timing.

Your team: You will work in the R&D department of Philips Oral Healthcare in Eindhoven, alongside experts in sensors, data science, robotics and oral healthcare. The project combines hands-on experimentation, software development and quantitative signal analysis.

Your role:

• Commission the Jetson/ROS 2 robot and OptiTrack workflow and implement safe trajectory replay.
• Define the brush-head TCP and calibrate robot, OptiTrack, marker and IMU coordinate frames.
• Design static and dynamic tests: ±X/±Y/±Z orientations and motions, plus roll/pitch/yaw at several speeds.
• Convert recorded poses and quaternions into continuous, limit-checked robot trajectories.
• Synchronise OptiTrack and IMU data; quantify replay accuracy, repeatability and cross-brush similarity.
• Deliver reusable software, a validated protocol and a technical report.

You're the right fit if:

• MSc student or last year BSc in Robotics, Mechatronics, Mechanical/Electrical/Biomedical Engineering, Applied Physics, Computer Science or Data Science.
• Python programming and confidence working in Linux.
• Basic linear algebra, 3D rotations and signal-processing skills.
• Affinity with hands-on experiments and systematic validation.
• ROS 2, robot arms, OptiTrack or IMU experience is a plus.
• Good written and spoken English.
• Independent, safety-conscious and collaborative.

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. Onsite roles require full-time presence in the company’s facilities. Field roles are most effectively done outside of the company’s main facilities, generally at the customers’ or suppliers’ locations.

Monthly full-time allowance between €500 - €700 gross, depending on your education level. If you need to relocate to The Netherlands specifically for the internship there will be a different allowance. Part-time internships receive the allowance pro-rata.

Housing compensation, in case of relocating to the vicinity of the office, €300,- net if location is in the vicinity of Amsterdam, €255,- net for all other Philips locations. To be eligible, your usual home-work travel distance needs to be more than 50 km or 1.5 hours of travel time (one way). Afterwards, you need to provide the rental contract from your (new) landlord.

Travel compensation, if you are not eligible for a free public transport (OV chipkaart - student travel product); you can receive max. €192,- net depending on your location. Paid holidays per internship term.

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.

• Learn more about our business.

• Discover our rich and exciting history.

• Learn more about our purpose.

If you’re interested in this role and have many, but not all, of the experiences needed, we encourage you to apply. You may still be the right candidate for this or other opportunities at Philips. Learn more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion here.

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