Filipe Neves dos Santos

Filipe Neves dos Santos was born in São Paio de Oleiros, Portugal, in 1979. He has a PhD in electrical engineering and computers (2014) from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computers – automation and robotics (2007) from the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) of the Technical University of Lisbon, and a degree in electrical engineering and computers (2003) from the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP).

Professionally, he is passionate about the research and development of robotic solutions and automation that enable us to solve real problems, desires and needs of our society and contribute to the self-sustainability and fairness of the global economy. At the moment, his main line of research focuses on developing robotic solutions for the agricultural and forestry sectors, where greater efficiency is needed for our global self-sustainability.

In 2013, considering the reality of Portugal and the main innovation roadmaps, it structured a research roadmap focused on the development of robotics and intelligent systems for the agricultural and forestry context. In particular, in contexts with steep slopes and no access to GPS/GNSS, where tasks such as (ground) monitoring, precision spraying, logistics, pruning and selective harvesting are required.

The efficient execution of these tasks depends largely on the robustness of specific robotic systems, such as: Visual perception; Navigation (locating, mapping and planning safe paths); and Manipulation and specific tools.

His engineering background MSc (sensory fusion and GPS(GNSS), PhD (mapping and semantic localization), 4 years’ experience as an entrepreneur (technological startup), participation and coordination of research projects in the field of robotics for over 12 years, 5 years’ experience in accounting and management tasks (family business), and 6 years as an electronics technician will provide him with the knowledge and know-how to contribute to the success of the future of agricultural robotics.