Prizes to Scientific Papers

  1. Best Paper Award at the Ibero-American Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IBERAMIA) 2022. Paper: “Where are the Gates: Discovering Effective Waypoints for Autonomous Drone Racing”. Cartagena, Colombia. November 2022. 

  2. 1,000 CHF Financial Support granted by the Artificial Intelligence Consortium of the CONACYT Public Research Centers, used to cover the article processing charge of the open-access article “DeepPilot: A  CNN for Autonomous Drone Racing”, published in the Journal Sensors, Q1 (https://doi.org/10.3390/s20164524). Funding is given under the project FORDECYT  296737. August 2020.

  3. Full waiver of the APC (1,200 USD) for the Paper “Detection of nearby UAVs using a multi-microphone array on board a UAV” (extended paper of the paper finalist to the best papers in the IMAV 2019). Published in the International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles Q3 (https://doi.org/10.1177/1756829320925748). Special Issue on the IMAV19. May 2020.

  4. Best Poster Award. Paper: “Depth Estimation using Óptical Flow and CNN for the NAO Robot”. In the Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (MICAI) 2019. Veracruz, México. October 2019.

  5. Finalist to the Best Paper Award IMAV 2019. Paper: “Detection of nearby uavs using cnn and spectrograms”.  Only 6 papers were selected. International Micro Air Vehicle Conference and Competition (IMAV) 2019. Madrid, Spain. October 2019.

  6. 3rd Place, Best Paper Award. Paper: “Combining Deep Learning and RGBD SLAM for Monocular Indoor Autonomous Flight”.  Mexican International Conference in Artificial Intelligence (MICAI) 2018. Guadalajara, Jalisco. Mexico. October 2018.



Awards in International Competitions

  1. 1st Place Regional Prize Winner of the OpenCV AI Competition 2021. Region South America + Central America + Caribbeans. Monetary Prize: 5,000 USD. Organised by OpenCV.org, sponsored by Microsoft Azure and Intel. September 2021. 

  2. Phase 1 Winner in the OpenCV AI Competition 2021; Prize: 4 OAK-D Units. Organised by OpenCV.org, sponsored by Microsoft Azure and Intel. March 2021. 

  3. 3rd Place in the Game of Drones Competition, Tier 1. Organised by Microsoft and Stanford University at the Thirty-third Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems NeurIPS. Vancouver, Canada. December 2019.

  4. Special Award: Best Flight Performance in the International Micro Air Vehicle Conference and Competition (IMAV) 2019, Indoors Competition. Madrid, Spain. October 2019. 

  5. 1st Place in the IEEE IROS 2017 Autonomous Drone Racing competition in Mos Eisley Vancouver Arena. IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robotic Systems, IROS 2017. Vancouver, Canada. September 2017.

  6. 2nd Place in the International Micro Air Vehicle Conference and Competition (IMAV) 2016, Indoors Competition. Beijing, China. October 2016. 

  7. 3000 EUR Travel Support funded by Beijing ZHZ Technologies, a world-leading company specialising in heavy-lift coaxial unmanned helicopters, to participate in the International Micro Air Vehicle Conference and Competitions, IMAV 2016 in Beijing, China. May 2016. 

  8. Participation in the 9th International Youth Scientific Exhibition/Expo-Science International (ESI) 2003. Moscow, Russia. July 2003. 



Awards Granted to my Students

  1. 1st Place, Best Thesis Award "José Negrete Martínez'' Master Thesis Category. Thesis: “Geo-localisation of aerial images captured with drones” Awarded to Aldrich A. Cabrera-Ponce, MSc student supervised by Dr. Jose Martinez-Carranza. Granted by the Mexican Society in Artificial Intelligence during the Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (MICAI) 2021. Mexico City, Mexico. October 2021.

  2. 1st Place, Best Thesis Award "José Negrete Martínez'' Master Thesis Category. Thesis: “A CNN Pilot for Autonomous Drone Racing.” Awarded to Leticia Oyuki Rojas-Perez, MSc student supervised by Dr. Jose Martinez-Carranza. Granted by the Mexican Society in Artificial Intelligence during the Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (MICAI) 2020. Ciudad de México, México. October 2020. 

  3. 42,258 mxn Studies Stipend granted by the Artificial Intelligence Consortium of the CONACYT Public Research Centres. Granted to Aldrich Alfredo Cabrera Ponce, to conclude his Master Thesis during the period of September-December 2020, under the supervision of Dr. Jose Martinez-Carranza. 

  4. 3rd Place, Best Thesis Award "José Negrete Martínez'' Master Thesis Category. Thesis: “Vision-based Autonomous Navigation for Wind Turbine Inspection using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.” Awarded to Rene Parlange, MSc student supervised by Dr. Jose Martinez-Carranza. Granted by the Mexican Society in Artificial Intelligence during  the Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (MICAI) 2019. Veracruz, México. October 2019.



Research Awards and Grants

  1. 2-Year Grant from Fondo Sectorial CONACYT-INEGI, Project 268528. First project of its type for technological development and research on drones for the recording of video and aerial photography. Period: 2017-2019, Funding: 1´570,197.12 mxn. Mexico. June 2016. 

  2. Royal Society-Newton Advanced Fellowship. Project RAFAGA. Project to carry out research on autonomous drones in GPS-denied environments. 2 Year Grant with 1 Year Extension, period 2015-2018. Funded by the Newton Fund with £74,000. United Kingdom. March 2015.



Awards in National Competitions

  1. 1st Place in the Autonomous Drone Category of the Mexican Tournament in Robotics 2019. Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. March 2019. 

  2. 1st Place in the Autonomous Drone Category of the Mexican Tournament in Robotics 2018. Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. March 2018.

  3. 1st Place in the Autonomous Drone Category - Advanced Level of the Mexican Tournament in Robotics 2017. Mexico City, Mexico. March 2017.

  4. 1st Place in the Service Robots Category @home of the Mexican Tournament in Robotics.  Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas. Mexico. March 2016. 

  5. 1st Place in the Service Robots Category @home of the Mexican Tournament in Robotics.  Mexico City, Mexico. April 2015.

  6. 1st Place in the Aquatic Category of the 3rd Mexican Tournament in Cleaning Robots. Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. July 2006. 

  7. Honour Mention in the 2003 ACM Central America Programming Contest. Universidad de las Américas de Puebla. Puebla, México. November 2003. 

  8. 2nd Place in the National Scientific Fair 9th Great Meeting of Young Science. Puebla, Mexico. November 2002. 

  9. Honour Mention as Best Delegation Team in the V Mexican Olympiad in Informatics (Team Leader). Coahuila, Mexico. June 2000. 

  10. 2nd Place in the IV Mexican Olympiad in Informatics. Mexico City, Mexico. May 1999. 



Prizes due to Academic Performance

  1. Level 5 (for the Highest Score) in the Annual Academic Performance Evaluation of Researchers in the Computer Science Department  at INAOE for the year 2020. Puebla, Mexico. January 2021. 

  2. Best Student of the Generation. Master in Research Computer Science Program. Computer Science Department. Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica Óptica y Electrónica. Puebla, México. November 2005. 

  3. Highest Honours – Cum Laude in Bachelor Studies. Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México. July 2004. 

  4. Outstanding Academic Performance Scholarship. Funded by the Sistema Integral de Becas of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla for the period 2000 – 2003. Granted on the basis of Academic Merit. 

  5. Outstanding Academic Performance Certificate. Faculty of Computer Science, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Puebla, México. July 2001. 



Distinctions and Awards Granted by Societies and Academic Institutions

  1. Member of the National System of Researchers in Mexico, Level I. Area VIII – Engineering. Period 2023-2027. January 2023.

  2. Guest Editor for the International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles. Best Papers of the IMAV 2021. June 2023.  https://doi.org/10.1177%2F17568293221104967

  3. Invited to serve as Associate Editor for the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robotic Systems IROS 2022. January 2022. 

  4. Invited to join the Editorial Board as Editor for the Unmanned Systems Journal. January 2022. 

  5. Finance Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Robotics Federation. Mexico City, Mexico. May 2022.

  6. General Chair of the International Micro Air Vehicles Conference and Competition (IMAV) 2021. Granted by the International Committee of the IMAV Conference and Competitions. Puebla, México. November 2021. 

  7. Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Computer Science Department, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bristol, in the UK. July 2021 – July 2024. 

  8. 1st Vocal Member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Robotics Federation. Mexico City, Mexico. March 2021. 

  9. Regular Member of the Mexican Computing Academy. Mexico City, Mexico. October 2020.

  10. Member of the National System of Researchers in Mexico, Level I. Area VII – Engineering. Period 2020-2022. September 2019.

  11. 67,191 mxn Travel Support funded by the Artificial Intelligence Consortium of the CONACYT Public Research Centres. Call: Financial Support to Attend Academic Events 2019. Used to attend to the IMAV 2019 held in Madrid, Spain. Funding is given under the project FORDECYT  296737. June 2019. 

  12. 2nd Vocal Member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Robotics Federation. Mexico City, Mexico. June 2019.

  13. I was featured on the cover of the Komputer Sapiens Magazine and invited as Guest Editor. Year X, Volume III. ISSN 2007-0691. A science dissemination magazine issued by the Mexican Society in Artificial Intelligence. Sept-Dec, 2018.

  14. Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Computer Science Department, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Bristol, in the UK. July 2018 – July 2021. 

  15. 5th Vocal Member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Robotics Federation. Mexico City, Mexico. April 2018.

  16. Member of the National System of Researchers in Mexico, Level C. Area VII – Engineering. Period 2017-2019. September 2016. 

  17. Junior Member of the Mexican Computing Academy. Mexico City, Mexico. November 2016.

  18. Numerary Member of the Mexican Robotics Federation. Ciudad Victoria, Mexico. March 2016.

  19. £1000 Software Royalties. Licensed to SAMSUNG Electronics Ltd. Software developed in the project Real-Time Visual Mapping for the Humanoid Robot RoboRay. Bristol, UK. May 2013. 

  20. Recognition Letter from the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico. For having successfully concluded the PhD Studies. Scholarship number 301992. Register 189903. July 2012. 

  21. Recognition Letter from the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico. For having successfully concluded the Master in Research Studies. Scholarship number 207939. November 2022. 

  22. £16,000 Studies Stipend. University of Bristol. Funded by SAMSUNG Electronics Ltd. Project COS.RY9257.6525. May 2011 – June 2012. 

  23. £750 Travel Support funded by the British Machine Vision Association (BMVA) to attend the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), May 2012. 

  24. Funding to attend the EPSRC-BMVA Summer School in Computer Vision. Robert's Fund for Training Skills.  Computer Science Department. University of Bristol. University of Essex, UK. July 2008. 

  25. PhD Scholarship. Funded by the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico. Granted on the basis of Academic Merit. September 2007. 

  26. Master in Research Scholarship. Funded by the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico. Granted on the basis of Academic Merit. September 2004.