My research interests lie in the intersection between applied mathematics and robot kinematics. In particular, I have explored novel ways of using geometric, algebraic and numerical tools to deal with classical problems in robotics, such as the forward and inverse kinematics and the singularity identification problems. One of these tools is conformal geometric algebra, a mathematical framework where both the geometric objects and Euclidean rigid transformations can be encoded as elements of the algebra. Complementary, I am also very interested in numerical optimization methods (especially meta-heuristics approaches) and their applica-tion in robotics (e.g., optimal parameters' computation for automated processing lines and optimal path-planning computation). In addition, I am deeply interested in the applications of artificial intelligence (both machine and learning techniques) to robot kinematics, especially in combination with algebraic geometry and conformal geometric algebra. Furthermore, I have begun to explore the applications of AI in other fields, including biology.

Research

Journal publications

Sanchez-Munoz, R.; Depaepe, T.; Samalova, M.; Hejatko, J.; Zaplana, I and Van Der Straeten, D. (2024) The molecular core of transcriptome responses to abiotic stress in plants: a machine learning-driven meta-analysis. Preprint at bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2024.01.24.576978.

Velasco, M.; Zaplana, I.; Dòria-Cerezo, A.; Duarte, J. and Martí, P. (2024) Introducing modelling, analysis and control of three-phase electrical systems using geometric algebra. Preprint at arXiv. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2312.01345.

Van den Eynde, S.; Waumans, S.; Dimas, T.; Díaz-Romero, D.J.; Zaplana, I. and Peeters, J. (2024) Evaluating the effectiveness of density-based sorting of plastics from WEEE and ELVS. Preprint at SSRN. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4745572.

Ruiz-Celada, O.; Dalmases, A.; Zaplana, I. and Rosell, J. (2024) Smart perception for situation awareness in robotic manipulation tasks. IEEE Access, 12: pp. 53974-53985. doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3389091.

Képeš, K.; Vrábel, J.; Siozos, P.; Pinon, V.; Pavlidis, P.; Anglos, D.; Chen, T.; Sun, L.; Lu, G.; Díaz-Romero, D.J.; Van den Eynde, S.; Zaplana, I.; Peeters, J.; Kaňa, V.; Záděra, A.; Palleschi, A.; De Giacomo, A.; Pořízka, P.; Kaiser, J. (2023) Quantification of alloying elements in steel targets: The LIBS 2022 regression contest. Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 206: 106710. doi: 10.1016/j.sab.2023.106710.

Van den Eynde, S.; Díaz-Romero, D.; Zaplana, I. and Peeters, J.R. (2023) Deep Learning Regression for Quantitative LIBS Analysis of Aluminium Scrap. Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 202: 106634. doi: 10.1016/j.sab.2023.106634.

Díaz-Romero, D.; Van den Eynde, S.; Zaplana, I.; Zhou, C.; Sterkens, W.; Goedemé, T. and Peeters, J.R. (2023) Classification of Aluminum Scrap by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometry (LIBS) and RGB+D Image Fusion using Deep Learning Approaches. Journal of Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 190: 106865. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.106865.

Zhou, C.; Sterkens, W.; Díaz-Romero, D.; Zaplana, I and Peeters, J.R. (2023) You Only Demanufacture Once (YODO): WEEE Retrieval Using Unsupervised Learning. Journal of Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 190: 106826. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106826.

Díaz-Romero, D.; Van den Eynde, S.; Sterkens, W.; Eckert, A.; Zaplana, I.; Goedemé, T. and Peeters, J.R. (2022) Real-time classification of aluminium metal scrap with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy using deep and other machine learning approaches. Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 196: 106519. doi: 10.1016/j.sab.2022.106519.

Zaplana, I.; Hadfield, H. and Lasenby, J. (2022) Singularities of serial robots: identification and distance computation using geometric algebra. Mathematics, 10(12): 2068. doi: 10.3390/math10122068.

Zaplana, I.; Hadfield, H. and Lasenby, J. (2022) General closed-form solutions for the inverse kinematics of serial robots using conformal geometric algebra. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 173: 104835. doi: 10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2022.104835.

Díaz-Romero, D.; Van den Eynde, S.; Sterkens, W.; Engelen, B.; Zaplana, I.; Dewulf, W.; Goedemé, T. and Peeters, J.R. (2022) Simultaneous mass estimation and class classification of scrap metals using deep learning. Journal of Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 181: 106272. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106272.

Van den Eynde, S.; Bracquené, E.; Diaz-Romero, D.; Zaplana, I.; Engelen, B.; Duflou, J.R. and Peeters, J.R. (2022) Forecasting global aluminium flows to demonstrate the need for improved sorting and recycling methods. Journal of Waste Management, 137(5): 231-240. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2021.11.019.

Guardiani, P.; Ludovico, D.; Pistone, A.; Zaplana, I.; Abidi, H.; Lee, J.; Caldwell, D. G. and Canali, C. (2022) Design and analysis of a fully actuated cable-driven joint for a hyper-redundant robot with optimal cable routing. ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics, 14(2): 021006. doi: 10.1115/1.4052332.

Zaplana, I. and Basanez, L. (2018). A novel closed-form solution for the inverse kinematics of redundant manipulators through workspace analysis. Mechanism and Machine Theory, 121(2): 829–843. doi: 10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2017.12.005.

Zaplana, I.; Claret, J.A. and Basanez, L. (2018). Kinematic analysis of redundant robotic manipulators: applications to Kuka LWR 4+ and ABB Yumi. Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informáti-ca Industrial, 15(2): 192–202. doi: 10.4995/riai.2017.8822.

Conference publications

Dalmases, A.; Ruiz-Celada, O.; Rosell, J. and Zaplana, I. (2023) Automated depth dataset generation with integrated quality metrics for robotic manipulation. In: 2023 IEEE 28th International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), Sinaia, Romania, 2023, pp. 1-4. doi: 10.1109/ETFA54631.2023.10275481.

Palomo-Avellaneda, L.; Rosell, J.; Suárez, R. and Zaplana, I. (2023) Resolución geométrica de la cinemática inversa de un robot sin muñeca esférica/Geometric solution for the inverse kinematics of robots without spherical wrist. In: XLIV Jornadas de Automática, Zaragoza, Spain, pp. 708-713. doi: 10.17979/spudc.9788497498609.708.

Díaz-Romero, D.; Zaplana, I.; Van den Eynde, S.; Sterkens, W.; Goedemé, T. and Peeters, J.R. (2022) Enhanced Plastic Recycling using RGB+Depth Fusion with MassFaster and MassMask R-CNN. In: 2022 Fourth International Conference on Transdisciplinary AI (TransAI), Laguna Hills, California, USA, pp. 22-29, doi: 10.1109/TransAI54797.2022.00010.

Zhou, C.; Engelen, B.; Zaplana, I.; and Peeters, J.R. (2022) Design of a robotic system for battery dismantling from tablets. Procedia Cirp, 105: 273–277. doi: 10.1016/j.procir.2022.02.045.

Engelen, B.; De Marelle, D.; Diaz-Romero, D.J.; Van den Eynde, S.; Zaplana, I.; Peeters, J.R. and Kellens, K. (2022) Techno-economic assessment of robotic sorting of aluminium scrap. Procedia Cirp, 105: 152– 157. doi: 10.1016/j.procir.2022.02.026.

Van den Eynde, S.; Diaz-Romero, D.; Engelen, B.; Zaplana, I.; and Peeters, J.R. (2022) Sorting of post-consumer aluminium scrap using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and machine learning. In: Proceeding of the 9th Sensor-based Sorting & Control (SBSC) 2021 Conference, Aachen, Germany, 1-5.

Van den Eynde, S.; Diaz-Romero, D.; Engelen, B.; Zaplana, I.; and Peeters, J.R. (2022) Assessing the efficiency of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometry (LIBS) based sorting of post-consumer aluminium scrap. Procedia Cirp, 105: 278–283. doi: 10.1016/j.procir.2022.02.046.

Cepolina, E.; Zaplana, I.; D’Imperio, M.; Gagliardi, R.; Baizid, K.; Scaccia, M.; Dai, J.; Muscolo, G. and Cannella, F. (2021) Scalable six-bar linkage mechanism for re-orienting and aligning objects: design methodology. Procedia CIRP, 97: 66–70. doi: 10.1016/j.procir.2020.05.205.

Gloriani, C.; Zaplana, I.; Cannella, F.; D’Imperio, M. and Cepolina, E. (2020) A novel system for grasping and handling flat and deformable objects. In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Autonomic and Autonomous Systems (ICAS), Lisbon, Portugal pp. 41–44.

Zaplana, I.; Cepolina, E.; Gagliardi, R.; Faieta, F.; D’Imperio, M. and Cannella, F. (2020) A novel strategy for workload balance of industrial processes based on a genetic algorithm. In: Proceeding of the 25th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA), Vienna, Austria, pp. 785–792. doi: 10.1109/ETFA46521.2020.9212038.

Rosell, J., Nuño, E., Claret, J., Zaplana, I., Garcia, N., Akbari, A., Ud Din, M., Palomo, L., Pérez, A., Mas, Orestes, Basañez, L. (2017) Mobile manipulators as robot co-workers: autonomy and interaction in the human-robot collaboration. In: Libro de Actas de las Jornadas Nacionales de Robótica 2017, Valencia, Spain, pp. 1–6.

Claret, J.A.; Zaplana, I. and Basanez, L. (2016). Teleoperating a mobile manipulator and a free-flying camera from a single haptic device. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics, Lausanne, Switzerland, pp. 291–296. doi: 10.1109/SSRR.2016.7784318.

Organization of sessions in conferences

Organization of the symposium Geometric calculi and deep learning: A long-term relationship, part of the 12th International Conference on Clifford Algebras and Their Applications in Mathematical Physics – ICCA12, held online on August 2020. The symposium consisted of 8 different talks covering topics such as, for instance, quaternionic neural networks, sparse coding with octonions and Clifford-valued support vector machines.

Organization of the session To machine learning and beyond: data science in mathematics, physics and engineering, part of the 13th International Conference on Clifford Algebras and Their Applications in Mathematical Physics – ICCA13, that will be held on June 2023. The session will consist of several talks covering different topics at the intersection of machine learning, data analysis, mathematical structures, as well as applications in physics and engineering.

Books and book chapters

Zaplana, I. (2021) New perspectives on robotics with geometric calculus. In: Systems, patterns and data engineering with geometric calculi, Delshams, A. and Xambo-Descamps, S., editors. ICIAM 2019 SEMA SIMAI Springer Series, pp. 1–17. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-74486-1_1.

Lavor, C.; Xambo-Descamps, S. and Zaplana, I. (2018) A Geometric Algebra Invitation to Space-Time Physics, Robotics and Molecular Geometry. Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-90665-2.

Patents

Lucia, O.; Cipriani, A.; Spiriticchio, M.; Cepolina, E.E.; Baizid, K.; Scaccia, M.; Gagliardi, R.; Zaplana, I.; D’Imperio, M. and Cannella, F. (2023) Method and apparatus for preparing edges of reels of web material. Patent no: US11858768B2. US Patent Office. url: US11858768B2.

Lucia, O.; Cipriani, A.; Spiriticcho, M.; Baizid, K.; Cepolina, E.E.; Scaccia, M.; Gagliardi, R.; D’Imperio, M.; Zaplana, I.; Cannella, F. and Caldwell, D.G. (2023) Apparatus and method for dispensing sections of double-sided adhesive tape. Patent no: EP3988486B1. European Patent Office. url: EP3988486B1.

Awards and recognitions

LIBS Regression Contest - 2022 Edition (organized by Dr. Erik Képeš, Jakub Vrábel, Prof. Pavel Pořízka). Out of 21 participating teams, the KU Leuven team conformed of Dillam Diaz-Romero, Simon van den Eynde and Isiah Zaplana was ranked among the three best teams and, consequently, has been one of three contest winners. The award ceremony took place at the 2022 LIBS conference and, in addition, a follow-up publication has been prepared by the contest organizers together with the three winning teams.

Service

June 2023 - Current: Associate Editor of the journal Advances in Applied Clifford Algebras (AACA) of the Birkhäuser/Springer editorial.

Oral communications

Geometric algebra: a novel powerful tool to solve robotic kinematic problems. In: Spectra LGBTQ+ in Mathematics Conference organized by Spectra, The Association for LGBTQ+ Mathematicians (August 2021).

Clifford neural networks: Past, present and future. Part of the symposium Geometric calculi and deep learning: A long-term relationship. In: 12th International Conference on Clifford Algebras and Their Applications in Mathematical Physics – ICCA12 organized by the University of Science and Technology of China (August 2020).

Bringing new perspectives to robotics and computer vision. Part of the symposium Systems, patterns and data engineering with geometric calculi. In: 9th International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics – ICIAM 2019 organized by the Polytechnical University of Valencia (July 2019) – Invited talk.

Identification and avoidance of the singularities of serial manipulators using conformal geometric algebra. In: 11th International Conference on Clifford Algebras and their Applications in Mathematical Physics organized by the University of Gent (August 2017).

General closed-form solutions for the inverse kinematics of serial manipulators using conformal geometric algebra. In: 11th International Conference on Clifford Algebras and their Applications in Mathematical Physics organized by the University of Gent (August 2017).

New tools for the kinematics of serial robots: Conformal geometric algebra. Part of the 2016 Winter research workshop on ongoing work and development tools organized by the Technical University of Catalonia – BarcelonaTech (December 2016).

Inverse kinematics for redundant manipulators: A new approach. Part of the 2015 Summer research workshop on ongoing work and development tools organized by the Technical University of Catalonia – BarcelonaTech (July 2015).

Mathematical models for cardiovascular physiology. Part of the Seminar in pure and applied mathematics organized by the University of Valencia (March 2013) – Invited talk.