Available for PhD-track researchJV
Madrid, Spain
JOSE DAVID VALDA PEÑARANDA
Hands-on Engineer with a passion for building real-world, impactful solutions.
Mechatronics Engineer specializing in applied computer vision and AI for robotics. Eager to build autonomous agents that function in the real world. Seeking PhD-track research roles in Computer Vision or AI for Robotics.
4+
Years leading teams
ES · EN
Languages
Spotlight achievements
Carolina Foundation Scholarship
Academic Excellence Graduate (UCB)
Favorcito · Best Bolivian Startup Nominee 2025
Academic formation
MSc in Automation & Robotics
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)
2024 - Present
- • Carolina Foundation Scholar (Elite Mobility Grant)
- • Focus: Computer Vision and AI for Robotics
BSc in Mechatronics Engineering
Universidad Católica Boliviana "San Pablo"
Graduated Nov 2024
- • Graduated with Academic Excellence
- • President of the Mechatronics Scientific Society
Professional Experience
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Favorcito
La Paz, Bolivia
- Orchestrated the technical roadmap for Bolivia's #1 downloaded app, scaling backend architecture to support 49,000+ active users.
- Aligning technical debt management with business KPIs, resulting in a nomination for Best Bolivian Startup 2025.
- Led a cross-functional engineering team, establishing CI/CD pipelines and code review standards.
- Managed a 20.000$ grant for cloud infrastructure and AI services.
Fullstack AI Developer (Agentic Systems)
WILICAR SPA
Santiago, Chile (Remote)
- Engineered autonomous LLM-based agents using RAG architectures to handle complex customer interactions without human intervention.
- Integrated Python-based AI microservices with legacy backend systems.
Product Software Engineer
GÜIL Mobility Ventures
Santiago, Chile (Remote)
- Build intelligent recommendation engines using vector embeddings, improving user matching.
- Implemented continuous improvements in mobile and web applications.
Projects
Distortion Torques Analysis for CubeSats (IEEE Published)
A research analyzing magnetic disturbance torques in the Altiplano region. Validated via experimental hardware and published in IEEE ANDESCON.
MATLABSimulinkPhysicsEmbedded Systems
Autonomous Medical Robot "LU-K"
A human follower medical robot for patient tracking. Overcame hardware constraints to run YOLO and DeepSORT in real-time on edge devices.
YOLOv8DeepSORTControl TheoryC++Raspberry Pi/Edge AI
Integrated Road Inspection System: Pavement Distress & Lane Marking Detection
Undergraduate thesis proposal: Edge-to-cloud system for automated road inspection using computer vision. Detects pavement distress (cracks, potholes) and lane marking visibility, generating AASHTO-compliant reports for Bolivia's road network.
Semantic SegmentationU-NetYOLOEdge ComputingCloud ProcessingAASHTO StandardsData Curation
Cost-effective Braille Printer and Scanner
An accessible engineering project converting physical text to mechanical Braille using OCR and cost-effective actuators.
Tesseract OCROpenCVMechatronicsCost-effective Actuators
NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge
Engineering and manufacturing of a human-powered traction vehicle for the international competition in Huntsville, AL. Collaborated on mechanical design/construction and system validation. Led prototyping and manufacturing of a tool for the competition's specific challenges.
Mechanical EngineeringPrototypingSystem ValidationManufacturing
Leadership & community
Publications
IEEE ANDESCON 2022
Main analysis for the disturbance torques over the Altiplano region for 1U CubeSat nadir earth pointing
Ticona Coaquira, F. J., et al.
DOI: 10.1109/ANDESCON56260.2022.9989853
Contact
Get in touch for collaborations or inquiries.