I am a currently a lead research scientist in the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI). From 2016 to 2018 I leaded the Learning and Interaction Group at the department of Advanced Robotics in the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). I joined IIT in 2012, first as a research fellow and then as postdoctoral researcher in 2013 under the mentorship of Sylvain Calinon. In 2017 I was awarded an individual fellowship from the highly-competitive call Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions for my project proposal DRAPer.
Some years back, I received my bachelor's degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the "Nueva Granada" Military University (Bogota, Colombia - 2005), and got my Master's degree in Automatic Control and Robotics (2007), and Ph.D in Robotics (2013) from the Polytechnical University of Catalonia (Barcelona, Spain).
I carried out my PhD research at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial under the supervision of Prof. Carme Torras and Dr. Pablo Jiménez. My research has been mainly focused on exploiting machine learning techniques, optimal control and Riemannian manifold theory to learn robot motion skills via human demonstrations and refinement methods such as reinforcement learning. My application fields are (dual-arm) manipulation tasks and human-robot collaboration.
Some years back, I received my bachelor's degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the "Nueva Granada" Military University (Bogota, Colombia - 2005), and got my Master's degree in Automatic Control and Robotics (2007), and Ph.D in Robotics (2013) from the Polytechnical University of Catalonia (Barcelona, Spain).
I carried out my PhD research at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial under the supervision of Prof. Carme Torras and Dr. Pablo Jiménez. My research has been mainly focused on exploiting machine learning techniques, optimal control and Riemannian manifold theory to learn robot motion skills via human demonstrations and refinement methods such as reinforcement learning. My application fields are (dual-arm) manipulation tasks and human-robot collaboration.
Where I have worked:
| 2023-Now |
Lead Research scientist Bosch center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI). |
| 2018-2022 |
Research scientist Bosch center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI). |
| 2016-2018 |
Team leader Department of Advanced Robotics at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). |
| 2013-2015 |
Postdoctoral researcher Department of Advanced Robotics at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). |
| 2012-2013 |
Research fellow Department of Advanced Robotics at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT). |
| 2007-2012 |
PhD fellow Perception and Manipulation Group at the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (CSIC-UPC). |
| 2011 |
Visiting researcher Department of Advanced Robotics in the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. |
| 2009-2010 |
Lecturer Mechatronics Engineering Faculty at the "Nueva Granada" Military University (UMNG). |
| 2007 |
Research Engineer Perception and Manipulation Group of the Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial. |
| 2006 |
Development Engineer Insepet Ltda. |
What I studied:
| 2008-2013 |
PhD in Automatic Control, Robotics and Vision,
at the Polytechnical University of Catalonia UPC, Spain. "Robot Learning from Demonstration of Force-based Manipulation Tasks" Supervisors: Prof. Carme Torras, PhD. Pablo Jimenez. Reviewers: Prof. Aleš Ude, Jožef Stefan Institute, PhD. Sylvain Calinon, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). Committee: Prof. Yiannis Demiris, Imperial College London, Prof. Aleš Ude, Jožef Stefan Institute, PhD. Cecilio Angulo, UPC. |
| 2006-2007 |
MSc in Automatic Control and Robotics,
at the Polytechnical University of Catalonia UPC, Spain. "Device-independent haptic rendering system" Supervisor: PhD. Pablo Jimenez. Committee: PhD. Raul Suarez, UPC-IOC, PhD. Jan Rosell, UPC-IOC, PhD. Manel Frigola, UPC. |
| 2001-2005 |
BSc in Mechatronics Engineering, at the “Nueva Granada” Military University, Colombia. "Generalized PI-based controller design for a truck suspension system" (in Spanish) Supervisor: PhD. Ervin Alvarez, Veracruzana University. |
R+D Projects I have been involved in:
Technology Transfer (participation)
| 2016-2018 |
PHOLUS
(Centauro-like robot for navigating, observing, and interacting in highly unstructured environments) (Affiliated with ADVR-IIT) |
European Projects (participation)
| 2012-2015 |
STIFF-FLOP
(STIFFness controllable Flexible and Learn-able Manipulator for surgical OPerations) (FP7-ICT-287728, affiliated with ADVR-IIT) |
| 2011-2012 |
IntellAct
(Intelligent observation and execution of Actions and manipulations) (FP7-ICT2009-6-269959, affiliated with IRI CSIC-UPC) |
| 2010-2012 |
GARNICS
(Gardening with a cognitive system) (FP7-ICT-247947, affiliated with IRI CSIC-UPC) |
| 2007-2010 |
PACOPLUS
(Perception, action and cognition through learning of object-action complexes) (IST-FP6-IP-027657, affiliated with IRI CSIC-UPC) |
National Projects (participation)
| 2010-2012 |
APREN
(Modelos perceptivos y técnicas de aprendizaje para robots de servicios) (CSIC project 201050E052, affiliated with IRI) - Spain |
| 2009-2012 |
PAU
(Perception and Action under Uncertainty) (DPI2008-06022, affiliated with IRI) - Spain |
| 2007-2012 |
MIPRCV
(Multimodal Interaction in Pattern Recognition and Computer Vision) (Consolider Ingenio 2010 project CSD2007-00018, affiliated with IRI) - Spain |
Events I have co-organized:
| 2022 |
Co-organizer IROS 2022 Tutorial on Geometric Methods in Robot Learning, Optimization and Control [Webpage] |
| 2021 |
Program co-chair LXAI workshop at ICML 2021 [Webpage] Co-organizer R:SS 2021 Workshop on Geometry and Topology in Robotics: Learning, Optimization, Planning and Control [Webpage] |
| 2020 |
Program co-chair LXAI workshop at ICML [Webpage] Co-organizer IROS 2020 Workshop on Bringing Geometric Methods to Robot Learning, Optimization and Control [Webpage] |
| 2018 |
Co-organizer ICRA 2018 Workshop on Human-Robot Interaction with UAVs: Challenges and Frontiers [Webpage] |
| 2016 |
Co-organizer IROS 2016 Workshop on Human-Robot Collaboration: Towards Co-Adaptive Learning Through Semi-Autonomy and Shared Control [Webpage] |
| 2015 |
Main organizer RO-MAN 2015 Workshop on Learning for Human-Robot Collaboration [Webpage] |
I enjoy supporting the peer-review processes and organizing special issues on cool topics:
| 2020-Now |
Associate Editor IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) |
| 2020-2021 |
Guest Editor Special Issue on Emerging Paradigms for Robotic Manipulation: from the Lab to the Productive World (IEEE RAM) |
| 2017-2018 |
Associate Editor International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) |
| 2016-2018 |
Main co-editor Special Issue on Learning for Human-Robot Collaboration (Autonomous Robots) |
| 2017-2018 |
Associate Editor International Conference on Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IROS) |
| 2017-2019 |
Senior Program Committee Member International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) |
| 2017 |
Program Committee Member Colombian Conference on Automatic Control (CCAC) |
| 2016 |
Program Committee Member International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) |
I am fortunate to mentor nice and smart people:
| Postdocs | Fares Abu-dakka (2016-2018) Yanlong Huang (2017-2018) João Silvério (2017-2018) |
| PhD |
Miguel Gonzalez (2022) — PhD. sabbatical on "Riemannian Manifolds Learning" Hadi Beik-Mohammadi (2020-Now) — "Geometric Machine Learning for Robot Motion Skills" Brian Delhaisse (2016-2020) — "Exploiting Prior Knowledge in Robot Motion Skills Learning" Noémie Jaquier (2019) — PhD. sabbatical on "Data-efficient Adaptation of Robot Motion Primitives" Domingo Esteban (2016-2019) — "Indirect Methods for Robot Skill Learning" João Silvério (2014-2017) — "Learning Bimanual Skills from Demonstrations: Coordination and Task Prioritization" |
| MSc. |
Jiechao Zhang (2022) — Co-supervised with H. Beik-Mohammadi "Riemannian Dynamic Robot Motion Learning" Akshay Dhonthi (2021) — Co-supervised with P. Schillinger "Leveraging Signal Temporal Logic Robustness Metrics for Robotic Tasks Optimization" Kira Ruschmeier (2020) — Co-supervised with P. Schillinger "Parameter Optimization for Robotic Manipulation Skills" |
| Interns | Zheng Shen (2021) — Co-supervised with P. Schillinger "Geometry-aware Task Optimization for Robotic Manipulation" Vedant Dave (2020) "Benchmarking robotic manipulation skills learning" Emily-Jane Rolley (2017-2018) "Development of a 3D tracking RGB-D system of human-motion for human-robot collaboration" |
And I have also given a hand to review papers:
| Journals | International Journal on Robotics Research (IJRR) IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO) IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology (TCST) IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics (T-MEC) IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE) IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Systems (T-SMCA) IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L) IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics (T-MECH) IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics (CYB) IEEE Access IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems IET Control Theory & Applications (CTA) Journal on Human-Robot Interaction (JHRI) Intech International Journal on Advanced Robotics Systems (IJARS) Springer Journal of Intelligent Robotic Systems (JIRS) Elsevier Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Elsevier Pattern Recognition Letter (PR-L) Springer International Journal on Social Robotics (SORO) Frontiers Journal on Robotics and AI |
| Conferences |
Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) Robotics: Science and Systems (R:SS) IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Robots (IROS) Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL) IEEE International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids) IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR) IEEE International Conference on Applied Bionics and Biomechanics (ICAAB) International Conference on Virtual reality |
