Robotics have been my main focus in research and applied research.

I would say that, through my trajectory, I have cultivated a strong technological expertise in the various technologies required to develop and implement a successful autonomous robotics solution, and applied this expertise to a very wide spectrum of sectors and application: manufacturing, mobility, logistics, health, construction, military, energy, circular economy…

This profile has been recognized by Tecnalia that has recently honored me with the position of Transversal coordinator of the Robotics and Automation Key Enabling Technology, where I not only orient the medium-term strategy of the >85 robotics and automation researchers to challenge the SoA and transfer it to our ecosystem, but where I also impulse the deployment of robotic solutions outside of factories towards new sectors and applications. 

In 2022, I received an award for “Research Career Excellence" issued by the Basque government and the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), regrouping 17 research centers and more than 4000 researchers.

During my PhD on surgical robotics, I simulated, optimized through genetic algorithms, designed, manufactured and controlled an optimal surgical robotic tool for minimally-invasive heart surgery.

A critical aspect for me is that robotics requires very transversal capabilities: mechatronics, control, sensors, software, and AI… and that one researcher alone cannot achieve any impactful result in this field.

So, I decided to move away from academy to work in an innovative SME, joining Robosoft SME in France to design, manufacture and deploy robots for Service applications. 

There I explored the technologies and specificities of innovative product development for Driverless autonomous vehicles, Companion and rehabilitation robots for the elderlies, Mobile robots for Research, Cleaning robots, Military robots and Professional services robots for the construction or water-treatment sectors.  I led the creation of a new R&D department focused on software development to provide higher autonomy to our products and customized solutions, secured funding through EU and national projects, managed multiple final client R&D projects, and delivered the robuBOX® software product that has been deployed in more than 40 robotic systems and solutions.

Then I moved to Tecnalia as R&D project manager, where I identified a strong tendency change in the manufacturing needs, driving industrial robotics towards High Mix - Low Volume scenarios: smaller lot size in the orders combined with an increased diversity and variability of the parts to process. I thus envisioned a new Value Proposition and created a new team to implement it: Agile autonomous Robots for Flexible manufacturing. The key is that robots are required to be more versatile and agile to allow automation in such a flexible manufacturing context. So, we're developing AI-software that allows robots to perceive and understand their environment, adapt their plans and compute new motion primitives. Also, robots need to be quickly and easily setup by non-experts, so we enhanced the concept of skills that can be combined and simply parameterized to create the required robot sequence program for a new reference of component or application.

Our leadership on this new Value Proposition has been endorsed by SPRI/Basque Government that assigned me as the coordinator of the Flexible and Collaborative Robotics node of the BDIH – Basque Digital Innovation Hub.

In the past years, I have envisioned and assessed the pertinence of a new Value Proposition, focused on Robots for Sustainability: robots used to preserve and clean the environment as well as robots used as key enablers to ramp-up Circular Economy and enable its viability in as many sectors as possible. This vision targets in particular circular streams that require sorting and dismantling prior to recycling, such as plastics and marine litter, construction waste, textile, electric vehicle batteries, photovoltaic panels, wind turbine blades composites…  I really see Robotics as an enabler for this highly complex business model.

The path to a successful implementation of this vision is far from trivial and many times appears like a bumpy road uphill the Himalaya, but our planet needs it and merits our effort and perseverance!