Valter Costa

Thermographic Video ProcessingJanuary 2020 - November 2020

Computer vision system based on thermal video analysis for investment casting process control. A video of the system can be found here.

Optical Character RecognitionJanuary 2020 - July 2020

Artificial Vision System for Retrofit a Mechanical Testing Machine. A video of the system can be found here.

D. ElsaFebruary 2019 - January 2020

D. Elsa is an artificial visual inspection machine developed for the inspection of turbo vanes produced by investment casting. A video of the machine can be found here.

CorkID2015 - 2019

CorkID is a patented technology that uses the intricate features of the cork stopper to individually recognize it for wine anti-counterfeiting purposes.

Autonomous Driving Robot - Major Alvega2018 - 2022

Major Alvega is an autonomous driving robot with ackermann steering system (just like a usual car) developed to participate in the autonomous driving competition of the Portuguese Robotics Open.

Autonomous Driving Robot - Conde2014 - 2018

Conde is an autonomous driving robot with differential steering locomotion system, in which its movement changes by varying the relative rate of rotation of its wheels. A castor wheel placed at the end of the robot is needed in order to balance the structure. This robot was built to participate in the autonomous driving competition in the Portuguese Robotics Open. The autonomous driving competition consists of a robot, completely devoid of human input during its runtime, running on a track, detecting vertical signs and signalling panels (projected on two monitors) and avoiding obstacles. The current version of the vision system for Code uses 3 PSEye cameras: two cameras detect and track/follow the lanes and another to detect the signaling panels.

Autonomous Driving Simulator for Portuguese Robotics Open2017 - 2022

The competition ruling for the portuguese autonomus driving competition defines a track of 17x7 meters. To overcome the need of physical space to test the real robot, a simulation world related to the portuguese autonomous driving competition was developed using Gazebo and ROS framework. Two robots were moduled: the robot Conde, and the Major Alvega. Both modulated robots proved to be good approximations to their corresponding real robots. For more information refer to [3,4]. The source code can be found at github, and a demo video can be found here.

Winner of the Autonomous Driving Competition in the 2022 Portuguese Robotics Open [Press News]

Winner of the Autonomous Driving Competition in the 2019 Portuguese Robotics Open

Winner of the Autonomous Driving Competition in the 2018 Portuguese Robotics Open [Press News]

Winner of the Autonomous Driving Competition in the XVII Portuguese Robotics Open [Press News]

[19] A Comparative Analysis for 2D Object Recognition: A Case Study with Tactode Puzzle-Like Tiles

Journal of Imaging, 2020 | journal-article

DOI: 10.3390/jimaging7040065

[18] Design and Comparison of Image Hashing Methods: A Case Study on Cork Stopper Unique Identification

Journal of Imaging, 2020 | journal-article

DOI: 10.3390/jimaging7030048

[17] Automatic Visual Inspection of Turbo Vanes produced by Investment Casting Process

SSIP 2020: 2020 3rd International Conference on Sensors, Signal and Image Processing | conference chapter

DOI: 10.1145/3441233.3441241

[16] Teaching Mobile Robotics Using the Autonomous Driving Simulator of the Portuguese Robotics Open

Robot 2019: Fourth Iberian Robotics Conference - Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2019 | book chapter

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-35990-4_37

[15] Optical recognition of alphanumeric codes on ceramic bowls used in lost-wax casting

The 15th US National Congress on Computational Mechanics (USNCCM15), 2019 | abstract

[14] Simulator for Teaching Robotics, ROS and Autonomous Driving in a Competitive Mindset: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications

Rapid Automation, 2019 | book chapter

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-8060-7.ch033

[13] Image-Based Object Spoofing Detection

Lecture Notes in Computer Science - Combinatorial Image Analysis, 2018 | book chapter

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-05288-1_15

[12] Cork as a Unique Object: Device, Method, and Evaluation

Applied Sciences, 2018 | journal article

DOI: 10.3390/app8112150

[11] CBIR for a wine anti-counterfeiting system using imagery from cork stoppers

13th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, 2018 | conference paper

DOI: 10.23919/cisti.2018.8399225

[10] Device And Method For Identifying A Cork Stopper, And Respective Kit

WO2018078600A1, 2018 | patent

[9] SQUIRLROB: A DO IT YOURSELF ARDUINO AND SMARTPHONE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE PLATFORMS FOR ROBOTICS EDUCATION

12th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, 2018 | conference paper

DOI: 10.21125/inted.2018.1068

[8] Preventing Wine Counterfeiting by Individual Cork Stopper Recognition Using Image Processing Technologies

Journal of Imaging, 2018 | journal-article

DOI: 10.3390/jimaging4040054

[7] Design of an Embedded Multi-Camera Vision System - A Case Study in Mobile Robotics

Robotics, 2018 | journal-article

DOI: 10.3390/robotics7010012

[6] Design hints for efficient robotic vision - Lessons learned from a robotic platform

Lecture Notes in Computational Vision and Biomechanics, 2018 | book

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-68195-5_56

[5] FOSTERING EFFICIENT LEARNING IN THE TECHNICAL FIELD OF ROBOTICS BY CHANGING THE AUTONOMOUS DRIVING COMPETITION OF THE PORTUGUESE ROBOTICS OPEN

10th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, 2017 | conference paper

DOI: 10.21125/iceri.2017.2049

[4] Simulator for teaching robotics, ROS and autonomous driving in a competitive mindset

International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction, 2017 | journal-article

DOI: 10.4018/IJTHI.2017100102

[3] Autonomous driving simulator for educational purposes

Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, CISTI, 2016 | conference-paper

DOI: 10.1109/CISTI.2016.7521461

[2] Robotics: Using a competition mindset as a tool for learning ROS

Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2016 | book chapter

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-27146-0_58

[1] ROBOTICS: A TEACHING TOOL FOR STEM EDUCATION IN HIGH SCHOOL

EDULEARN15: 7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION AND NEW LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES, 2015 | conference-paper

ISBN: 978-84-606-8243-1

Co-Supervisor of Gonçalo Martins, Machine Learning Based Controller for the Robot used in Autonomous Driving Competition, 2021

Co-Supervisor of Francisco Moreira, Computer Vision System for Alphanumeric Code and Symbol Recognition in Welding Blueprints, 2021

Co-Supervisor of Daniel Queirós da Silva, Computer Vision System for Tactode Programming, 2020

Co-Supervisor of Ricardo Alexandre Duarte Pereira da Silva, Sistema de Auxílio à Colagem no Processo de Fundição por Cera Perdida, 2020

Co-Supervisor of Carlos Marcelo Silva Torres, Inspeção Visual Automática de Peças Fundidas, 2019

Co-Supervisor of Tiago Guedes Roque, Optical Character Recognition of Alphanumeric Codes of Ceramic Bowls used in Lost-wax Casting, 2019

Co-Supervisor of João Daniel Amaral Martins, Visão artificial na inspeção e caraterização de defeitos superficiais em peças fundidas, 2018

Co-Supervisor of Nolasco Amado dos Santos Napoleão, Vision-Based Feature Matching as a Tool for Robotic Localization, 2017

External Examiner of Análise temporal da ocupação de indivíduos numa cena por visão computacional, July 2019

Member of the Reviewers Committee (Scientific Commitee) of ROBOT'2019: Fourth Iberian Robotics Conference

Editorial Review Board Member of International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction (IJTHI), since 2018

Member of the Reviewers Committee (Scientific Commitee) of ROBOT'2017 - Third Iberian Robotics Conference