Pere Ridao Rodriguez

Pere Ridao Rodríguez is a Full Professor of Robotics of the Computer Vision and Robotics Research Institute (VICOROB) at the University of Girona, Spain. He is the head of the Underwater Robotics Research Center (CIRS) and a co-founder of Iqua Robotics spin-off company specializing in the development of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). Since 1997, his research has focused on the design of intelligent marine robots, with pioneering contributions to subsea autonomous intervention and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). Prof. Ridao has led numerous European research projects and served as the Chair of the IFAC Technical Committee on Marine Systems. Beyond his research and industrial contributions, Prof. Ridao has been deeply involved in shaping international robotics education. He has been a core academic driver behind a lineage of prestigious Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees hosted at the University of Girona, including VIBOT (Master in Vision and Robotics) and IFROS (Master in Intelligent Field Robotic Systems). Over more than two decades, these international programs have trained top-tier researchers from across the globe in field robotics, computer vision, and autonomous ocean systems.