Academic Biography

2017-2021

Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering

• Thesis: "Autonomous navigation strategies for N-trailer vehicles in agricultural applications".

Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile.

2010-2016

B.Sc. in Electronic and Control Engineering 

• Thesis: "Design, simulation and implementation of control techniques based on reduced order models, applied to the trajectory tracking problem of a Pionner 3DX robotic platform".

Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador. 

2021-present

University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK

Member of Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (LCAS) & Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT).  

Senior Lecturer in Agri-robotics (from Sept-2024 to present)

Lecturer in Agri-robotics (from Sept-2022 to Aug-2024)

• Contributing to relevant teaching activities, supervising postdoctoral researchers and PGR students, acquiring external funding, and conducting research in areas including Human-Robot Interactions (HRI), and mobile robotics applied to agriculture.

Associate Lecturer (from May-2022 to Sept-2022) 

• Working part-time with the main role of supervising and marking the research projects of five MSc students from School of Computer Science (taught) postgraduate programmes.

Postdoctoral Research Associate (from Jan-2021 to Aug-2022)

• Working on assuring the safe operation of commercial agricultural robots (Thorvald robots from SAGA robotics) which are intended to interact with humans in agricultural tasks which include soft fruit transportation and plant treatment by using UV-C light.

2020

Institute of Systems and Robotics (ISR) at University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal  

Visiting Researcher (from Jan-2020 to Jun-2020)

• Working with Prof. Rui Rocha developing route planning, decision making, and multi-vehicle cooperation strategies for robot-assisted harvesting operations.

2019

Institute of Automatic Control and Robotics (IAR) at Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland  

Visiting Researcher (from Mar-2019 to Jun-2019)

• Working with Prof. Maciej Michalek developing collision-free navigation strategies for robotic N-trailer vehicles used in agricultural settings.

2016-2017

Jean Fourier Institute, Ibarra, Ecuador

Teacher

• Working as a temporary teacher of math and physics modules, preparing students for entry to university.

2015-2016

Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador

Research Assistant

• Working part-time managing and monitoring internal research projects at "Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Proyección Social" and working as an editorial support member of the journal "Revista Politécnica". 

2024

Innovate UK - UK

£46k

Progressive Agri-Robotics Regulatory Network

• Working as the Principal Investigator, providing overall coordination of the LIAT contributions as part of an Agri-robotics sectoral network. Our tasks included regulatory gap identification and mapping ofexisting standards for autonomous agricultural machinery.
• The project collaborators included Agri-EPI Centre (project leader), Crop Health & Protection (CHAP), and LIAT.

2023-2026

Innovate UK - UK

£3.8 million 

Agri-OpenCore 

• Working as a Co-investigator, supervising the accomplishment of tasks within one of the work packages. This work package focuses on the standardization of hardware and software tools that can ensure the safe operation of robotic fruit pickers in horticulture scenarios where they have to interact with human workers.
• The project collaborators include APS Produce Ltd (project leader), Dogtooth Technologies Ltd, Wootzano Ltd, and Muddy Machines Ltd.

2023

Berry Gardens Ltd - UK

£12ok

BGG 2023 Portfolio Project - Affordable safety measures for autonomous robots in fruit production  

• Working as a Co-investigator, supervising the accomplishment of tasks within one of the work packages. This work package focuses on developing online formal verification methods and their integration into an affordable and portable device that monitors the safe operation of agricultural robots.

2022-2023

Innovate UK - UK

£388k

Collaborative Fruit Retrieval Using Intelligent Transportation (Co-FRUIT)

• Working as a Co-investigator 1) supporting the development of an affordable autonomous navigation stack for mobile robots aimed to support human pickers in soft-fruit harvesting operations 2) incorporating safety mechanisms and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) strategies into the affordable navigation stack. 
• The project collaborators include Performance Projects Ltd (project leader) and Berry Gardens Ltd.

• A demo video of the fruit retrieval approach proposed in this project can be seen below:

2021-2022

Lloyd's Register Foundation and the University of York - UK

£242k

MEdium-Sized AGV for soft-fruit Production (MeSAPro)

• Working as a Postdoctoral researcher, performing a hazard analysis and proposing mitigation strategies that address the safety issues related to introducing agricultural robots in the same workspace as humans. 
• This project was supported by the Assuring Autonomy International Programme (AAIP) with the collaboration of SAGA Robotics. 
• A demo video of the Human-Aware Navigation (HAN) module proposed in this project can be seen below:

2018-2020

Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID) - Chile 

International Cooperation Project / Code ANID-REDES 180129

• Working as a graduate researcher, developing autonomous navigation strategies (including motion control, maneuver planning, and multi-robot coordination) for robotic N-trailer vehicles in agricultural settings.
• This was an international cooperation project between AC3E (Chile) and the Institute of Automation and Robotics at Poznan University of Technology (Poland). 

Journals 

• Urvina R., Guevara L., Vásconez J., Prado A. (2024). "An Integrated Route and Path Planning Strategy for Skid–Steer Mobile Robots in Assisted Harvesting Tasks with Terrain Traversability Constraints", Agriculture, 14(8):1206. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14081206 
• Guevara L., Khalid M., Hanheide M., Parsons S., "Probabilistic model-checking of collaborative robots: a human injury assessment in agricultural applications", Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2024, Vol. 222, 108987. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2024.108987 
• Vásconez J., Schotborgh E., Vásconez I., Moya V., Pilco A., Menéndez O., Guamán-Rivera R., Guevara L., "Smart Delivery Assignment through Machine Learning and the Hungarian Algorithm", Smart Cities, 2024, 7, no. 3: 1109-1125. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities7030047 

• Medina L., Guerra G., Herrera M., Guevara L., Camacho O. "Trajectory Tracking for Non-holonomic Mobile Robots: A Comparison of Sliding Mode Control Approaches", Results in Engineering, 2024, 102105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2024.102105 

• Guevara L., Hanheide M., Parsons S., "Implementation of a human-aware robot navigation module for cooperative soft-fruit harvesting operations", Journal of Field Robotics, 2023, 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1002/rob.22227 
• Guevara L., Jorquera F., Walas K., Auat-Cheein F., "Robust Control Strategy for Generalized N-Trailer Vehicles Based on a Dual-Stage Disturbance Observer", Control Engineering Practice, 2023, Vol. 131, 105382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conengprac.2022.105382 
  

• Guevara L., Rocha P. R., Auat-Cheein F., "Improving the manual harvesting operation efficiency by coordinating a fleet of N-trailer vehicles", Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2021, Vol. 185, 106103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2021.106103
• Vasconez J., Viscaino M., Guevara L., Auat-Cheein F., "A Fuzzy-based driver assistance system using human cognitive parameters and driving style information", Cognitive Systems Research, 2020, Vol. 64, pp. 174-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsys.2020.08.007
  

• Guevara L., Michalek M., Auat-Cheein F., "Collision risk reduction of N-trailer agricultural machinery by off-track minimization", Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2020, Vol. 178, 105757.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2020.105757  

• Guevara L., Michalek M., Auat-Cheein F., "Headland turning algorithmization for autonomous N-trailer vehicles in agricultural scenarios", Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 2020, Vol. 175, 105541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2020.105541
  

• Guevara L., Auat-Cheein, F., "The Role of 5G Technologies: Challenges in Smart Cities and Intelligent Transportation Systems" Sustainability, 2020, Vol. 12, 16, 6469. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166469
  

• Guevara L., Camacho O., Rosales A., Guevara J., Scaglia G., "A linear algebra controller based on reduced order models applied to trajectory tracking for mobile robots: An experimental validation", International Journal of Automation and Control, 2019, Vol. 13, 2. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJAAC.2019.09821

Conferences

• Vásconez J., García I., Vilcapoma P., Moya V., Pilco A., Guevara L., Guamán-Rivera R., Menéndez O. "Human-robot interaction based on hand gesture detection using YOLO algorithm", accepted in ARTIIS 2024.
  

• Arunachalam H., Huang Z., Hanheide M., Guevara L., "Runtime Anomaly Monitoring of Human Perception Models for Robotic Systems", IEEE 20th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), 28th August-1st September, 2024, Bari, Italy. https://doi.org/10.1109/CASE59546.2024.10711500 

• Guevara L., Wariyapperuma P., Arunachalam H., Vasconez J., Hanheide M., Sklar E. "Robot-assisted fruit harvesting: a real-world usability study", IEEE 20th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), 28th August-1st September, 2024, Bari, Italy. https://doi.org/10.1109/CASE59546.2024.10711777 

• Salazar I., Soriano L., López Cruz I., Guevara L., "Microwave HERF Emitter for Locust Pest Control", IEEE 15th Latin America Symposium on Circuits and Systems (LASCAS), 2024, 27th March - 1st May, Punta del Este, Uruguay. https://doi.org/10.1109/LASCAS60203.2024.10506125 

• Guevara L., Torres-Torriti M., Auat-Cheein F., "Collision-free navigation of N-trailer vehicles with motion constraints", 12th International Workshop on Robot Motion Control (RoMoCo), 8-10 July, 2019, Poznan, Poland, pp. 118-123. https://doi.org/10.1109/RoMoCo.2019.8787374 
• Vasconez J., Guevara L., Auat-Cheein F., "Social robot navigation based on HRI non-verbal communication: A case study on avocado harvesting", Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC'19), 8-12 April, 2019, Limassol, Cyprus. https://doi.org/10.1145/3297280.3297569
  
• Guevara L., Guevara J., Camacho O., Scaglia G., Rosales A., "A New Approach of a Numerical Methods Controller for Self-Regulating Processes", IEEE-ARGENCON conference, 15-17 June, 2016, Buenos Aires, Argentina. https://doi.org/10.1109/ARGENCON.2016.7585282
  

Workshops

• Guevara L., Khalid M., Hanheide M., Parsons S., "Assessing the probability of human injury during UV-C treatment of crops by robots" presented at UKRAS21 Conference: "Robotics at home", 2nd May, 2021, pp. 41-42. https://doi.org/10.31256/Pj6Cz2L
  

• Khalid M., Guevara L., Hanheide M., Parsons S., "Assuring autonomy of robots in soft fruit production" presented at UKRAS21 Conference: "Robotics at home", 2nd May, 2021, pp. 43-44. https://doi.org/10.31256/Ml6Ik7G  

• Guevara L., Rocha P. R., Auat-Cheein F. "Route planning for multiple N-trailers in manual harvesting operations" presented at IROS/Workshop on Perception, Planning, and Mobility in Forestry Robotics (WPPMFR), 25-29 October, 2020. (paper)
  

Book Chapters

• Guevara J., Guevara L., Camacho O., Scaglia G., Rosales A., "An Approach of a Numerical Methods Controller for Nonlinear Chemical Processes", Impact and Advances of Automatic Control in Latinamerica, Editorial Artes y Letras S.A.S., 2016, ISBN: 978-958-8483-34-4. (ebook)
  

2021-present

Revista Odigos 

Editorial board member

2021-present

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture (COMPAG) 

Reviewer

2021

Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (TAROS) 

Programme committee member 

2021-present

ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC), track on Intelligent Robotics and Multi-Agent Systems (IRMAS)

Programme committee member  

2015-2016

Revista Politécnica 

Editorial support member

2024-present 

BSc in Robotics (Hons) programme - University of Lincoln - UK

Module Coordinator

and Lecturer

Collaboration in Robotics (ROB1001)

2023-present

MSc Data Science & Applied Analytics - University of Lincoln - UK

Lecturer

Image and Text Processing for Data Science (AGR9012)

2022-present

School of Computer Science Postgraduate (Taught) Programmes - University of Lincon - UK

Academic Tutor