Since 2000, I have been a member of the research group "División de Sistemas e Ingeniería Electrónica" (DSIE) at the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT), where I developed my Ph.D. thesis titled "Reference Architecture for Control Units of Teleoperated Service Robots," defended in 2005. This work was conducted within the framework of the European Union's Fifth Framework Programme (FP5) funded project "Environmental Friendly and Cost-Effective Technology for Coating Removal (EFTCoR)." I currently continue researching in the field of architectures and software engineering for robotics, and since 2022 I have been the Principal Investigator (PI) of the ADDIM project (Digital Platform for Monitoring the Health, Safety, Companionship, and Emotional Support of Elderly People at Home), reference CPP2022-00964, funded by MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR.

My research activities have consistently focused on software architectures for robotics. In 2009, our experiences in this domain, derived from my Ph.D. thesis and the European project, were published in the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine (RAM). In the following years, my research continued within the domains of Component-Based Software Development (CBSD) and Model-Driven Engineering (MDE). A significant milestone in this line was the publication in the inaugural issue of the "Journal of Software Engineering for Robotics." Following this, I was invited to join the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Technical Committee on Software Engineering for Robotics and Automation (TCSOFT). After a research stay at the Ocean Systems Lab of Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, Scotland), we published the paper "Model-Driven Analysis and Design for Software Development of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles" in the JCR-ranked journal ROBOTICA in 2014. This line of research continued in collaboration with the Submarine Vehicle Laboratory at UPCT, with results published in the Q2 JCR journal Autonomous Robots in 2016, and in the Q1 journal SENSORS in 2018.

From 2020 to 2022, I was the Principal Investigator of the national project "Coaching and Monitoring for the Well-being of Elderly People During Daily Life Based on Robotics (HIMTAE / RobWell)," ref. RTI2018-095599-A-C22, funded under the "Retos de la Sociedad" program by the Spanish State Research Agency. This project continued through a pilot project funded by the Integra Foundation of the Region of Murcia, aimed at implementing an Ambient Assisted Living and Robotics system in an adapted apartment for elderly people at the Poncemar Foundation. Currently, I am the Principal Investigator of the ADDIM project, a Public-Private Collaboration project with the University of Murcia and the company Intec Robots.  reference CPP2022-00964, funded by MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR

Overall, I have participated in 7 national projects (2 as PI), 3 international projects (1 of them under FP5), and 3 regional projects (1 as PI). I have also been involved in 9 research transfer projects with private companies, acting as PI in 4 of them. Over the years, my research has been disseminated through 18 JCR-indexed journals, including 6 Q1, 2 Q2, and 5 Q3 journals, along with 4 additional publications in other prestigious international journals and 2 book chapters. As part of my socially valuable dissemination efforts, I have participated in all three editions of the Spanish White Book on Robotics and in both regional and national science outreach projects (Science Week and Scientists in the Classroom). I have supervised over 50 Final Year Projects and Bachelor's/Master's Theses, and I have supervised 3 Ph.D. theses (one ongoing).

Since 2000, I have also been teaching courses in Electronic Instrumentation and Robotics at the School of Industrial Engineering (ETSII) of UPCT. Regarding my academic management roles at UPCT, I served as Academic Coordinator of the Doctoral Program in "Information and Communication Technologies" with a Mention of Excellence between 2011 and 2012, and as Deputy Director of Educational Quality at the School of Industrial Engineering at UPCT between 2018 and 2021. I have also been the Director of the UPCT-Emerson Chair from 2019 to 2025, and since 2025, I co-direct the UPCT-Poncemar Chair for Technological Support for the Elderly. 

Last updated: 2025