Robotics Software Engineer
at COPPE/UFRJ
Jul 2013 — Dec 2019
LEAD & LabCon Laboratories — Autonomous drones, subsea robots, mining inspection, and inertially stabilized platforms.
Six years, six projects — spanning autonomous drones, subsea robots, mining inspection, industrial manipulation, naval defense, and offshore monitoring.
On ARIEL (2019), developed control algorithms for autonomous drone takeoff and landing on small watercrafts in rough sea conditions. Built the project's simulation environment in Gazebo and its DevOps infrastructure with Docker. Managed a team of two interns. Co-authored the winning project proposal with Repsol Sinopec. After departure, the project was extended into a second iteration built on this foundation.
On HEADS (2017–2019), developed online and offline optimization techniques for parameter estimation, friction compensation methods, and nonlinear controllers based on sliding-mode control. Implemented obstacle-free trajectory planning and UDP communication drivers.
On ROSI (2017), wrote the winning project proposal with Vale and developed the robot's software system end-to-end. Designed the algorithm enabling the robot to detect, model, and autonomously climb stairways. The hybrid track-wheel locomotion mechanism — switching between high-torque tracks for stairs and wheels for forward driving — later inspired the Humming.bot hybrid VTOL concept at dotBot Robotics.
On DIA10 (2016–2017), developed controllers for cooperative object manipulation using both arms of a Yaskawa Motoman DIA10 industrial robot. Built a Linux device driver for a proprietary PCI board to communicate with the robot controller in real-time. Modernized the legacy software stack by exposing robot functionality via APIs and SDKs, unblocking new research on cooperative manipulation.
On Netuno (2015), developed stabilization algorithms for a 40 mm naval cannon under operational constraints, validated in high-fidelity simulation. Researched and selected motors, drivers, and gears to replace the cannon's hydraulic actuation with an electric alternative.
On LUMA and DORIS (2013–2015), developed a dynamically reconfigurable GUI to monitor and control subsea robots and implemented serial communication protocols for onboard microcontrollers. The DORIS project went on to win the ANP Technology Innovation Award — a national prize from Brazil's oil and gas regulatory agency.
Key achievements
- Authored two project proposals accepted by Repsol Sinopec and Vale (Brazil's largest mining company), securing 5 years of research funding.
- Wrote the software system for a mining inspection robot and validated it on-site at Vale's Port of Tubarão, one of the world's largest iron loading ports.
- Researched and implemented real-time nonlinear control algorithms that ensured target tracking with 0.01 degree precision on an inertially stabilized platform.
- Designed a high-fidelity simulation environment to validate autonomous take-off and landing on small watercrafts for the ARIEL drone project.
- Refactored a legacy C/C++ stack to modern C++ standards, improving performance and stability across two subsea robotics projects.
Gallery
Behind the Scenes
Under the hood
In the first week on the job, identified a crippling build bottleneck in the shared C++ codebase — core library changes took one hour to compile, with six developers waiting on the same feedback loop. Dove deep into CMake and reduced compile time to under five minutes, unlocking test-driven development practices that had been impractical before and shifting the team's entire approach to testing and prototyping.
Across projects, worked in C++ and Python with ROS and ROS 2 for robot middleware, Gazebo for physics simulation, Matlab for control system design and analysis, and Docker for reproducible development environments. Mechanical design in SolidWorks supported the hardware side of Netuno and other projects.
Also during the LUMA-DORIS period, built and commissioned an automated bioreactor end-to-end — converting Petri net models into PLC code, selecting valves and sensors, and wiring all hardware — enabling biodegradable waste recycling research.
Earlier, during a six-month stint at UFRJ's GTA laboratory (2012), built a single sign-on solution using Java Card — programming a Java subset onto physical smart cards with a cryptographic chip and near-field communication, used by researchers for secure authentication.
Tools & Technologies
Related publications
Efficient stairway detection and modeling for autonomous robot climbing
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2017
Peer-reviewed output from the ROSI project — the stairway detection and modeling algorithm validated at Vale's Port of Tubarão.
Detecção e modelagem eficiente de escadas para subida autônoma de robôs
XXI Congresso Brasileiro de Automática (CBA), 2016
Earlier Brazilian conference version of the IROS stairway paper, presented in Portuguese.
Optimal control allocation of quadrotor UAVs subject to actuator constraints
American Control Conference (ACC), 2016
First-author paper on optimal control allocation for quadrotor UAVs, extending the undergraduate thesis work into a formal publication. The most-cited paper on this profile.
Control Allocation: Enhancing the Performance of Quadrotors High-Level Controllers
XXI Congresso Brasileiro de Automática (CBA), 2016
Brazilian conference companion to the ACC control allocation paper.
ARIEL: An Autonomous Robotic System for Oil Spill Detection
Offshore Technology Conference, 2020
Conference paper on the ARIEL autonomous drone system for oil spill detection — the project's simulation environment was built here.
Super-Twisting Control with Quaternion Feedback for a 3-DoF Inertial Stabilization Platform
IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2018
Research output from the HEADS inertially stabilized platform project — quaternion-based sliding-mode control.
Identificação e controle por torque computado de uma plataforma inercial para estabilização e rastreamento da linha de visada
Congresso Brasileiro de Automática (CBA), 2019
Brazilian conference paper on the HEADS platform identification and computed-torque control, presented in Portuguese.
Convergence and Stability Properties of a Dynamic Maximum Consensus Estimator
IFAC-PapersOnLine, 2020
Theoretical contribution to distributed consensus estimation, developed during the doctoral research period.
Sliding Mode Based Extremum Seeking Control of Two-Phase Flow Micro-Thermal-Fluid Cooling Systems
IFAC-PapersOnLine, 2017
Sliding-mode extremum seeking applied to micro-thermal-fluid cooling — doctoral research collaboration with Prof. Lizarralde and Prof. Hsu.
Control Allocation for Wheeled Mobile Robots Subject to Input Saturation
IFAC-PapersOnLine, 2020
Extension of the control allocation framework to wheeled mobile robots — co-authored during the COPPE/UFRJ period.