José Neira Parra

Full Professor  Area de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos Grupo de Robótica y Tiempo Real (GRTR) Dept. Informática e Ingeniería de Sistemas (DIIS) Escuela de Ingeniería y Arquitectura (EINA) Universidad de Zaragoza (UZ) c/ María de Luna , 3 50018 Zaragoza, España E-mail:       jneira at unizar dot es Phone:    (+34) 976 76 19 47 Fax:           (+34) 976 76 19 14 Room:  1.19

Short bio:

Full professor (Catedrático de Universidad) at the Computer Science and Systems Engineering dept, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain. José holds a degree in Computer Science Engineering from the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia (1986), and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Zaragoza (1993). He was Assistant Lecturer until 1999, Associate Professor until 2010, when he became Full Professor in Computer Science. José teaches courses in Computer Programming, Computer Vision, Compiler Theory, Robotics and Machine Learning, in several degrees at the University of Zaragoza and also frequently as invited lecturer in many universities, research centers and conferences throughout the world. He has been invited researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, the Technical University of Munich, and the Instituto Superior Tecnico of Lisbon. José has been researcher in 13 national and 6 international research projects, as well as participant in 7 international research networks in the subject of Robotics.

José has published more than 50 books, journal papers and conference papers on the subject of perception for intelligent robots. He is one of the top 5% most cited researchers in robotics worldwide according to Google Scholar, his work has received more than 8,000 citations. He has co-authored papers with researchers from the University of Zaragoza, the University of Girona, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, the University of Washington, the University of Sydney, KTH Stockholm, TU Munich, the University of Bremen, and the University of Frieburg.

José has served as associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Robotics, and has been invited editor for Robotics and Autonomous Systems, the Journal of Field Robotics, Autonomous Robots, and the IEEE Transactions on Robotics. José has been involved in the organization of many other scientific events, including Robotics: Science and System (RSS, the 2010 edition was organized at the University of Zaragoza), the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), and the Conference on Artificial Intelligence of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). José also is also involved as expert in the evaluation of FP7 and H2020 Research and Innovation programs of the European Commission, as well as the European Research Council grants programs.

José has been member of the Research Commission (Comisión de Investigación), the Doctoral Programs Commission (Comisión de Doctorado), and the University Senate (Claustro Universiario) at the University of Zaragoza. He has also been Academic Coordinator for the area of Languages and Informatic Systems (Área de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos), Academic Coordinator for Exchange Programs for Computer Science, member of the Commission for Academic Control and Evaluation of the School of Engineering and Architecture, and since May 2011, from 2010 to 2018 José served as Vice Dean for International Affairs also at the School of Engineering and Architecture (EINA), where annually around 400 incoming and outgoing students participate in exchange programs with around 300 universities in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Oceania.

• Personal:
• Recently, because of a huge argument with a neighbouring restaurant that insisted in installing its terribly loud air conditioning machine in our common patio, I’ve become a sort of anti-noise activist.

• Administrative services:
• I’m former Vice Dean for International Affairs of the School of Engineering and Architecture (EINA)

Teaching:

• I teach 12048 Compiler Theory II
• I teach 12082 Computer Vision with Juan Tardós

Research

· Publications by category

· Publications in inverse chronological order

· Publications according to google scholar

PhD students:

• I currently advice Berta Bescós.
• I adviced Yasir Latif, now at The University of Adelaide, Australia.
• I adviced César Cadena, now at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.
• I adviced Lina María Paz, now at Apple, previously the University of Oxford, UK.
• I coadviced David Ribas with Pere Ridao, now at the University of Girona.
• I coadviced Diego Ortín with José María Martínez Montiel

Some Research Projects

· Life-long Active Spatial Cooperative Mapping and Understanding. Sponsored by the MInisterio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain. (DPI2012-36070)

· Active SLAM by Cooperative Sensors in Large Scale Environments. Sponsored by the MInisterio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain. (DPI2009-13710)

· Robust 3D Real Time Vision. Application to Augmented Reality in Endoscopic Surgery. Sponsored by the MInisterio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain. (DPI2009-07130)

· RAWSEEDS: Robotics Advancement through Web-publishing of Sensorial and Elaborated Extensive Data Sets (SSA- 045144) (financed by the European Union 6th Framework Program, 2006-2009).

· SLAM6DOF: Portable Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Systems for Large and Complex Environments (funded by MEC, DPI2006-13578, 2007-2009)

· Real-Time Camera Localisation in Real Environments (Con Univ. Oxford e Imperial College, financiado por EPSRC UK, GR/T24685/01, 2005-2007)

· Pushing the theoretical and practical limits of advanced SLAM systems (Con Univ. Oxford e Imperial College, financiado por The Royal Society, UK IJP2005/R2, 2005-2007)

· Multi-Vehicle Exploration of Outdoor Unstructured Environments (Con KTH, Suecia, financiado por STINT IG 2003-2060) (2003-2007)

Some Past Editorial services:

• Associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Robotics , 2008 – 2012
• Co-editor of Robotics: Science and Systems VI, available from The MIT Press, 2011.
• Guest editor, Journal of Field Robotics for the special issue on Visual Mapping and Navigation Outdoors, together with Cyrill Stachniss, University of Frieburg, y Stefan Williams, University of Sydney (appeared September 2010)

· Guest editor, Robotics and Autonomous Systems for the special issue: Inside Data Association, together with Udo Frese, University of Bremen (appeared December 2009)

• Guest editor, Autonomous Robots for the special issue on Robotics: Science and Systems 2008, together with Jeff Trinkle, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (appeared in April 2009)
• Guest editor, IEEE Transactions on Robotics for the Special Issue on Visual SLAM, together with Andrew Davison, Imperial College, and John Leonard, MIT (appeared in October 2008).

Some Past Conference Organizing Committee services:

• Editor in the Conference Editorial Board of ICRA 2016, the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 16 –21, 2016, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Area chair for Robotics: Science and Systems 2016, June 18-22, 2016, Ann Arbor, USA.
• Area chair for Robotics: Science and Systems 2015, July 13-17, 2015, Rome, Italy.
• Co-organizer of the workshop The problem of mobile sensors: Setting future goals and indicators of progress for SLAM, part of Robotics: Science and Systems 2015, July 13-17, 2015, Rome, Italy.
• Member of the Program Committee of the workshop Reviewing the review process An open review experiment for the robotics community, part of Robotics: Science and Systems 2015, July 13-17, 2015, Rome, Italy.
• Member of the Program Committee of SSRR 2015, the 13th IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics, Oct. 18-20, 2015, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
• Member of the Program Committee of ACRA 2015, the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2-4 December 2015, Canberra, Australia
• Editor in the Conference Editorial Board of ICRA 2015, the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 26 –30, 2015, Seattle, USA.
• Program Co-Chair of IROS 2014, the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Sept. 14–18, 2014, Chicago, USA.
• Editor in the Conference Editorial Board of ICRA 2014, the 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 31 – June 5, 2014, Hong Kong, China.
• Editor in the Conference Editorial Board of ICRA 2013, the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 6 - 10, 2013, Karlsruhe, Germany.
• Local Arrangements and Publications Chair of Robotics: Science and Systems 2010, June 27-30, Zaragoza, Spain
• Area chair for Robotics: Science and Systems 2009, June 28-July 1, Seattle, WA, USA
• Area chair for Robotics: Science and Systems 2008, June 25-28, Zurich, Switzerland
• Co-organizer of the workshop Inside Data Association, at Robotics: Science and Systems 2008, Zurich, Switzerland

• Member of the organizing committee of CEDI 2007: II Congreso Español de Informática, Septiembre 11 – 14, Zaragoza, Spain
• President of the organizing committee of ROBOT2007: I Workshop de Robótica, Septiembre 11 – 14, Zaragoza,  Spain

Some Past Program Committee Member services:

• Member of the Program Committee of ACRA 2014, the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2-4 December 2014, Melbourne, Australia
• Member of the Program Committee of SSRR 2014, the 12th IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics, Oct. 27-30, 2014, Hokkaido, Japan.
• Member of the PC for RSS 2014, Robotics: Science and Systems conference, July 12-16, 2014, Berkeley, USA
• Member of the Senior Program Committee for IJCAI 2013: the 23rd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, August 3-9, 2013, Beijing, China.
• Member of the PC of IEEE AFRICON 2013, Special Track on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Sep 9-12, 2013, Port Louis, Mauritius
• Member of the PC of ECMR 2013: 6th European Conference on Mobile Robots, Sep 25-27, 2013, Barcelona, Spain
• Member of the PC of ACRA 2013: the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, Dec 2-4, 2013, Sydney, Australia
• Member of the PC of the Robotics track of AAAI-13: Twenty-Seven Conference on Artificial Intelligence, July 14–18, 2013 in Bellevue, Washington, USA.

· Member of the PC of SSRR 2012, the IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics, Nov. 5-8, 2012, College Station, Texas, USA

• Program Committee member, the Special Track on Intelligent Robotic Systems of the 27th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Riva del Garda, Italy, March 25-29, 2012
• Conference Associate Editor for 2012 IEEE Intl. Conf. Robotics and Automation (ICRA) , St. Paul, USA, May 14-18, 2012
• Workshops Chair and Program Committee Member for 2012 Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS), Sydney, Australia, July 9-13 2012
• Member of the PC of the Robotics track of AAAI-12: Twenty-Sixth Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Toronto, Canada, July 22-26, 2012
• Associate Editor of 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, San Francisco, USA, September 25-30, 2011.
• Senior Program Committee of AAAI-11: Twenty-Fifth Conference on Artificial Intelligence, August 7-11, San Francisco, USA (and I was one of two Best AAAI 2011 Senior Program Committee Members!).
• Robotics: Science and Systems 2011, Los Angeles, USA
• Associate Editor at Large of 2011 IEEE Intl. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, May 9-13, Shanghai, China (and I was one of the ten finalists for Best ICRA 2011 Associate Editor!)
• IFAC 7th Symposium on Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles, IAV 2010  September 6-8, 2010, Lecce, Italia.
• Intelligent Robotics Systems (ROBOT) track in SAC 2010: the 25rd Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Lausanne, Switzerland, March 22-26, 2010
• Twenty-first International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI-09), July 11 - 17, 2009, Pasadena, California, USA
• Intelligent Robotics Systems (ROBOT) track on ACM SAC 2009: the 24th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Special track on Robotics: Hardware, Software and Embedded Systems, March 8 - 12, 2009, Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
• ACM SAC: Symposium on Applied Computing 2008,  Fortaleza, Brasil

• IEEE/RSJ IROS 2007,  San Diego, USA
• Robotics: Science and Systems 2007, Atlanta, USA
• IEEE ICRA: International Conference on Robotics and Automation,  Orlando, USA
• Robotics: Science and Systems 2006, Philadelphia, USA
• Robotics: Science and Systems 2005, Cambridge, USA
• IEEE ICRA 2004: International Conference on Robotics and Automation,  New Orleans, USA
• IEEE ICRA 2003: International Conference on Robotics and Automation,  Orlando, USA

Some past courses, workshops, tutorials and invited talks:

• I taught 62623 SLAM: Simultaneous Localization and Mapping with José A. Castellanos

2014

• October 16: I gave an talk for the CSAIL Reading Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT, Boston
• October 17: I gave an talk in the Seminar Series of the Dept. of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Newport
• December 9: I gave an invited talk at the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, as part of the Escuela de Invierno de Robótica, in Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico

2013

• March 23: I gave a talk at the Robotics Group, University of Tamaguchi, Ube, Japan
• May 14: I gave a talk at the The Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin
• May 15: I gave a Special Robotics Seminar at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
• May 16: I gave a talk at the Colloquium in Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX
• September 10: I gave an invited talk at the 2013 IEEE AFRICON Conference, Special Track in Robotics and AI, Port Louis, Mauritius
• September 27: I gave a talk at the Automatique, Systèmes Embarqués, Robotique group, HEUDIASYC, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, Compiègne, France

2012

· July: I gave an invited talk titled “Visual SLAM: from O(n^2) to O(Log n)” for the Robotics Research Group, University of Technology, Sydney, July 5, 2012.

2011

• July: I gave a talk titled The Elephant in the Room at the Automated SLAM Evaluation Workshop, part of the 2011 Robotics: Science and Systems Conference, July 1, 2011
• November: I gave a talk titled Environment Modelling for Robots using only Cameras at the 4^th Robotics and Mechatronics Conference of South Africa, November 25, 2011

2010

• November, I gave a talk at the Technical University of Munich, titled SLAM using Hand-held Cameras Only.
• July, I was interviewed, along with Sebastian Thrun, Stanford University, by Udo Frese, University of Bremen, on the subject: Is SLAM solved? The interview appears in the german artificial intelligence journal, KI - KÜNSTLICHE INTELLIGENZ
• May, I gave a talk at the CSAIL/MIT seminars: Large scale visual SLAM with hand-held cameras only

2009

• May: I co-organized the workshop Visual Mapping and Navigation in Outdoor Environments, part of ICRA 2009: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 12, 2009, Kobe, Japan.
• April: I gave a talk at the NATO Workshop on Innovative Solutions for Sea Mine Disposal, La Spezia, Italy, April 14, 2009
• March: I gave a talk at the RSS 2009 Area Chair Workshop, Seattle, USA, March 28, 2009
• January: I gave the lecture ‘From Bayes’ rule to SLAM EKF’ at the SLAM Summer School 2009, January 20-23, Sydney, Australia

2008

• November: I gave a plenay lecture at the Jornadas Argentinas de Robótica JAR 2008 , November 12-14, Bahía Blanca, Argentina (slides)
• June: I gave a master’s course in the Erasmus-Mundus Master in Vision and Robotics in Girona, Spain
• May: I gave a talk at the workshop Future Directions in Visual Navigation, at IEEE ICRA 2008, Pasadena, USA (slides)
• April: I gave a talk at the Freesubnet Workshop on Navigation, part of the NGCUV2008, the IFAC Workshop on Navigation, Guidance and Control of Underwater Vehicles, in Killaloe, Ireland. (slides)

2007

• November: I gave a talk at the Workshop on Visual SLAM in IEEE/RSJ ROS 2007, San Diego, USA
• October: I gave a PhD Seminar at the Cinvestav in Mexico City, Mexico (slides)
• September: I gave a SLAM minicourse the 1^st Workshop Probral in Abu Ubu, Brazil
• June: I gave a master’s course in the Erasmus-Mundus Master in Vision and Robotics in Girona, Spain

2006

• October: I gave a lecture at the Tutorial on Active estimation in Mobile Robotics: at IEEE/RSJ IROS 2006, in Beijing, China
• September: I gave a talk at the Oxford Robotics Research Group Seminars, Oxford, UK
• August: I gave a talk at the University College London Computer Vision Reading Group, London, UK
• August: I gave a lecture at the 2006 SLAM Summer School in Oxford, UK

2005

• August: I gave a lecture at the IEEE/RSJ IROS 2005 Advanced Tutorial on SLAM: Getting it Working in Real World Applications, in Edmonton, Canada
• April: I gave a lecture at the SLAM Workshop at IEEE ICRA 2005 in Barcelona, Spain

2004

• August: I gave a lecture at the SLAM Summer School 2004 in Toulouse, France

2003

· November: I gave a talk at the Oxford Robotics Research Group Seminars, Oxford, UK

2002

· April: I gave a talk at the ICRA Workshop on Concurrent Mapping and Localization for Mobile Robots, Washington, USA

2000

· April: I gave a talk at the IEEE ICRA Workshop on Mobile Robot Navigation and Mapping, San Francisco, USA

Othe stuff:

· Cycling in Zaragoza

Comments and suggestions: jneira at unizar dot es