Education and academic/professional background
PhD in Electrical Engineering, specialization on Control and Instrumentation, from the University of Coimbra, May 1995. Aggregation in Computer and Electrical Engineering, from the University of Coimbra, October 2006.
PhD in Electrical Engineering, specialization on Control and Instrumentation, from the University of Coimbra, May 1995. Aggregation in Computer and Electrical Engineering, from the University of Coimbra, October 2006.
Present position
Associate Professor (with Aggregation) in the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra - Head of the Computer and Electrical Engineering Department of the same Faculty. - Researcher of the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-UC), where he is the coordinator of the Automation and Mobile Robotics Group and the coordinator of the Mechatronics Laboratory.
Associate Professor (with Aggregation) in the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra - Head of the Computer and Electrical Engineering Department of the same Faculty. - Researcher of the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-UC), where he is the coordinator of the Automation and Mobile Robotics Group and the coordinator of the Mechatronics Laboratory.
Academic Activities (pos-graduation)
Supervisor/Co-supervisor of 4 Phd Thesis (concluded) and 15 MSc Thesis (concluded). He was the coordinator of the PhD (2007-2008) and Master Courses (2003-2007) on Computer and Electrical Engineering, University of Coimbra.
Supervisor/Co-supervisor of 4 Phd Thesis (concluded) and 15 MSc Thesis (concluded). He was the coordinator of the PhD (2007-2008) and Master Courses (2003-2007) on Computer and Electrical Engineering, University of Coimbra.
Research activities and projects involvement
Dr. Nunes has research interests in several areas in connection with mobile robotics, intelligent vehicles and mechatronics, namely on: environment perception, vehicle localization, autonomous navigation, vision and laser-based perception and sensor fusion, machine learning and ITS simulation, motion control of mobile robots, human-oriented robotics, and industrial automation.
Dr. Urbano Nunes has been responsible for several national and international (responsible at ISR-UC) projects in the field of robotics, some in collaboration with industry. Namely he is/was responsible of the following externally funded research projects:
Dr. Nunes has research interests in several areas in connection with mobile robotics, intelligent vehicles and mechatronics, namely on: environment perception, vehicle localization, autonomous navigation, vision and laser-based perception and sensor fusion, machine learning and ITS simulation, motion control of mobile robots, human-oriented robotics, and industrial automation.
Dr. Urbano Nunes has been responsible for several national and international (responsible at ISR-UC) projects in the field of robotics, some in collaboration with industry. Namely he is/was responsible of the following externally funded research projects:
National projects:
- TELEMACH - Telerobotic System With a High Performance Man-Machine Interface, Project JNICT/CERN, Partners: ISR-Coimbra, and CERN 1996-98.
- MENTOR - Teaching and Exploratory Skill Learning Methods for Human-Oriented Robots, Project PRAXIS, 1999-2001.
- CTR2001 - Robot Force and Motion Control, Linking Sensory and Intelligent Levels, Project POSI, 2001-2004.
- TSM02 - Trajectory planning and tracking of mechanical systems with nonholonomic constraints, Project POSI, 2002-2005.
- MTDTS04 - Multi-target detection and tracking in semi-structured outdoor environment using laserscanner and vision, POSC project, 2005-2008.
- NCT04 - Nonlinear control techniques applied in path following of WMRs and autonomous, vehicles wiht high precision localization system, 2005-2008.
- PmITS06 - Perception Methods for an Intelligent Transportation System using On-Board and Off-Board Sensing, Project PTDC, FCT, 2007-2010.
In collaboration with Industry:
- Project ROBOT2000 - Development of a Robot for Industrial Powder Coating Plants, Project, Partners: ISR-Coimbra, FIMEL SA (Industry), 1999-2001.
- Responsible for a Course and Training for Industry on the subject of "Industrial Automation" 2001-2002.
European Union funded projects:
- IST-2000-28487 CYBERCARS project (Cybernetic Cars for a New Transportation System in the Cities), Partners: 14 EU Institutions (General Coordinator: INRIA), 2001-2004.
- CyberC3 - Cybernetic technologies for cars in the Chinese Cities (Asia IT&C Programme), 2005-06.
- He has been also participating in the EU-funded "CyberMove- Cybernetic Transportaion Systems for the Cities of Tomorrow" project (EESD EVK4-2001-00050).
International Activities (Conferences & Committees)
- Co-chair of IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Committee on Autonomous Ground Vehicles and Intelligent Transportation Systems (RAS TC on Autonomous Ground Vehicles and ITS).
- IEEE member, member of the IFAC TC/MIL on Cost-Effective Automation (1999-2005), and AdCom member of the IFAC-affiliated APCA Association (Automatic Control Portuguese Association) (2003-2005).
Dr. Urbano Nunes has served on several programme and organizing committees of national and international conferences, such as:
- General Co-Chair of IEEE ICAR 2003, 11th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, Coimbra 2003;
- Program Chair of IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Sept. 17-20, 2006, Toronto, Canada;
- Program Chair of IEEE International Conference on Vehicular Electronics and Safety, Dec. 2007, Beijing, China, 2007;
- Program Co-chair of IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference, Program Co-Chair, Beijing, China, October 2008;
- Workshops on Planning, Perception and Navigation for Intelligent Vehicles held in conjunction with IEEE ICRA and IROS conferences, Co-Organizer (2007 and 2008);
- Workshop on Safe Navigation in Open and Dynamic Environments, held in conjunction with IROS 2007, S. Diego, Co-Organizer (2007);
- General Chair of the Scientific Meeting of Robotica2005 - the 5th Robotics National Festival;
- As conference local organization member: Clawar 2008, IEEE AM98; ARS97; Robotica 2005 (5th Robotics National Festival);
- Dr. Nunes has been member of Program Committees of more than 25 International most of them IEEE conferences., namely: IEEE IROS 2008, IEEE IROS 2007, IEEE IROS 2006, IEEE IROS05; IEEE ITSC 2007, IEEE ITSC 2006, IEEE ITSC05; IEEE IROS04; IFAC IAV04; IFAC COA04; Robocup04 (Scientific Meeting); Controlo04; IEEE IV04; IFAC ICINCO05; IFAC SICICA03; ECAI00; IEEE ETFA99 (Track co-chair)); Controlo04; Controlo02, MARS05, etc;
- As organizer of Special Sessions: IEEE ETFA99, Controlo02; ICAR03 (3 Sessions on Robotics Technologies for Intelligent Vehicles), several special sessions on cybercars and intelligent vehicles technologies at IEEE ITSC 2006 and 2006 IEEE/RSJ IROS conference.
Publications
(Journal Editorial Activities)
(Journal Editorial Activities)
- Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.
- Member of Editorial Board of the Int. Journal of Machine Intelligence & Robotic Control, Cyber Scientific (Japan).
(Editor of Conferences Proceedings)
- Co-Editor of the "Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Advanced Robotics", June/July 2003, Coimbra.
- Co-Editor of the Proceedings of the Scientific Meeting of the Tobotica 2005 - 5th Robotics National Festival.
(Guest Editor International Journals Special Issues)
- U. Nunes, H. Rakha, Y. Wang, and D.-H. Lee, SI of IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems: Special Issue on ITSC06, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 9, nº1, March 2008.
- Urbano Nunes and M. Parent, SI on Robotics Technologies for Intelligent Road Vehicles, Autonomous Robots , Springer, Vol.19, nº2, Sept. 2005.
- Urbano Nunes and J. Tenreiro Machado, SI on Selected Papers from ICAR 2003, Advanced Robotics, VSP and RSJ, vol.18, nº8, 2004.
- Urbano Nunes and Michel Parent, SI on Robotics Technologies for Intelligent Vehicles, MIROC, Cyber Scientific Japan, vol.5, nº3, 2003.
- Urbano Nunes and Luigi Villani, SI on Force Control of Advanced Robotic Systems, MIROC, Cyber Scientific Japan, vol.2, nº2, June 2000.
(Journal and Conference Papers)
- Author/co-author of more than 80 publications on international scientific journals, book chapters, and refereed conference proceedings.
(Some Recent Publications)
Some publications (in international journals):
Some publications (in international journals):
- R. Araújo, U. Nunes, and A.T. de Almeida (1996). 3D Surface-Tracking with a Robotic Manipulator, Int. Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems: Theory & Applications, nº 15, pp.401-417.
- U. Nunes, R. Araújo, and L. Marques (2000). Towards Intelligent Machines: Theory, Technology, and Experiments;, in Int. Journal of Systems Analysis Modeling and Simulation, Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, vol.38, 157-173, 2000.
- R. Cortesão, R. Koeppe, U. Nunes, and G. Hirzinger (2000). Force Control with a Kalman Active Observer Applied in a Robotic Skill Transfer System, Machine Intelligence & Robotic Control, vol.2, nº2, pp.43-44.
- G. Pires, U. Nunes (2002). A Wheelchair Steered through Voice Commands and Assisted by a Reactive Fuzzy-Logic Controller, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, nº 34, pp.301-314.
- L. Marques, U. Nunes e A. T. de Almeida (2002). Olfaction-based Mobile Robot Navigation, Thin Solid Films, Elsevier Science Pub., nº 418, pp.51-58.
- R. Araújo, and U. Nunes (2002). Adaptive-Resolution Map Building Approach for Robot Navigation in Dynamic Environments;, Machine Intelligence & Robotic Control, Cyber Scientific, vol.4, nº2, pp.61-70.
- U. Nunes, J. A. Fonseca, L. Almeida, R. Araújo, and R. Maia (2003). Using Distributed Systems in Real-Time Control of Autonomous Vehicles; Robotica, the Journal of IFR, Cambridge Univ. Press, vol. 21, 271-281.
- Paulo Coelho and Urbano Nunes (2003). "Lie Algebra Application to the Mobile Robot Control: A Tutorial", Robotica, the Journal of IDR, Cambridge University Press, vol.21, pp.483-493.
- R.Cortesão, R. Koeppe, U.Nunes, and G. Hirzinger (2004). Data fusion for robotic assembly tasks based on human skills, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol.20 (6), pp.941- 952, Dec. 2004.
- L.Conde and U. Nunes (2004). Autonomous navigation control with magnetic markers guidance of a cybernetic vehicle using fuzzy logic, Machine Intelligence and Robotic Control Journal, vol.6, nº1, pp.1-10, Cyber Scientific, Japan, 2004.
- Paulo Coelho and Urbano Nunes (2005). Path Following Control of Mobile Robots in Presence of Uncertainties, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Vol.21 (2), 252-261, April 2005.
- L. Marques, U. Nunes, and A.T. de Almeida (2006). Particle swarm-based olfactory guided search. Autonomous Robots, Springer-Verlag, nº20, pp.277-287.
- U. Nunes and L. Conde Bento (2007). Data fusion and path following controllers comparison for autonomous vehicles. Journal of Nonlinear Dynamics, Springer-Verlag, 49, pp.445-462.
- Razvan Solea and Urbano Nunes (2007). Trajectory planning and sliding-mode control based trajectory-tracking for cybercars. Integrated Computer-aided Engineering, Int. Journal, IOS Press, vol.14, nº1, pp.33-47.
- F. Moita, Ana C. Lopes, and U. Nunes (2007). A fast firing binaural system for ultrasonicpattern recognition. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, Springer-Verlag.
Awards
Dr. Nunes was awarded:
Dr. Nunes was awarded:
- the IEEE ITS Society Outstanding Service Award in 2006;
- as Co-Chair of RAS TC on ITS, the IEEE RAS Society Most Active TC Award in 2006;
- as co-author, awarded as a winner of NiSIS Competition 2007 "Problem Task: Analysis and Classification of the DaimlerChrysler Automotive Dataset Images"
- as coordinator of TruckSafe team, 3rd place in the Intel/GV Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Competition, with the business plan about an active safety system for trucks, called TruckSafe
