Our PhD student João Gaspar Oliveira Cunha, from the Doctoral Program in Electronic and Computer Engineering, is a finalist in the prestigious NeuroDesign EXPO & Competition – IEEE RO-MAN 2025, taking place in Eindhoven.

João is part of Team 9, with the project “The Neuroevolution of Collaborative Decision-Making in Robotic Assistants”, developed under the guidance of professors Estela Bicho, Raymond Cujpers, and Wolfram Erlhagen.

About the project

How can robots learn to collaborate naturally with humans? This work explores how the principles of Neuroevolution and Dynamic Field Theory can lead to adaptive and interpretable control in robotic assistants. Through the evolution of neural architectures that govern perception, memory, and decision-making, the system allows robots to learn when to help and when to act autonomously in shared tasks.

In a human-robot packaging scenario, evolved controllers demonstrate emergent collaboration, complementarity, and self-organization, without the need for manual adjustments. This approach points to a new generation of neuroadaptive robotic partners, capable of fluid, human-like collaboration inspired by brain principles.

More details: 2025