The Metaverse (global standards among real and virtual worlds) project will provide a standardized global framework that enables the interoperability between virtual worlds (as for example Second Life, World of Warcraft, IMVU, Google Earth and many others) and the real world (robots, sensors, actuators, vision and rendering, social and welfare systems, banking, insurance, travel, real estate and many others). The project is a funded through the European ITEA organization and the Dutch SenterNovem organization.

The Metaverse project will start with a state-of-the-art review of existing technology. The first step to classify robots is to create a taxonomy and nomenclature that may be inspired by the Linnaean classification system. The robot taxonomy will define the criteria on which the classes and orders may be distinguished. Some first works on robot taxonomies are available (Fong, Nourbakhsh, & Dautenhahn, 2003; Yanco & Drury, 2004) and will be examined for applicability. The robot taxonomy will then be applied to robots, starting with currently available robots and then extending to historical important robots. Their data will be gathered in a web-based database, the Internet Robot Database (IRDB). The IRDB will be setup as a community process that will enable the interested audience to continuously expand and improve the database. Based on the IRDB and the taxonomy, a communication standard and protocol will be developed in close collaboration with the other Metaverse partners, including Philips Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Utrecht University. Last, several usage scenarios for the communication standard and protocol will be developed and tested.

The candidate should have a Masters degree in computer science, information science or a close related field. He/she should be seriously interested in robotics, taxonomies, web technologies and communication protocols, as witnessed by project results or relevant courses. The candidate must be able to co-operate in a multidisciplinary and international team. The candidate needs to have a scientific attitude and the motivation to perform his/her research at the high level of technological design within the given time frame.

The department of Industrial Design of the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e), founded in 2001, is a rapidly growing department with over 500 students, both Bachelor and Master, and around 150 staff members. With a strong emphasis on research the ID department focuses on the design of intelligent products, systems, services and networks. These innovative products enable people to interact with their environment in an optimal and flexible way. The TU/e ID engineer, who has developed a wide range of competencies during his/her education, is capable of integrating technology, user aspects, design and business/marketing insights. This MSc-program is practice oriented, capable to deal with and aware of relevant issues as formulated by industry and society at large. Ambient Intelligence and Ambient (health) Care draw special attention within the TU/e and ID particular, and is an important research and application field. ID encompasses four areas: Technology covered by the Designed Intelligent (DI) group, User aspects, covered by User Centered Engineering (UCE) group, Design, covered by the Designing Quality in Interaction (DQI) group, and Business, covered by the Business Process Design (BPD) group.