The functions performed in the laboratory technician position were divided into two main areas:

• Commercialization project of a domestic social robot, carried out in collaboration with an external company.

• Core responsibilities of the hardware technician role within the laboratory.

As part of the hardware technician duties, responsibilities included supervising Bachelor’s and Master’s theses (TFGs and TFMs) related to hardware design developed in the lab, as well as mentoring engineers on the Robotics Master’s internship program.

Within the social robot project, work was linked to a Master’s thesis in Robotics, focused on researching and implementing a low-cost electronic architecture capable of replicating the functionalities of previous robots. This solution was later integrated into the design of the commercial robot.

Hardware Development

The technical work covered all phases of the robot’s hardware development:

• Structural and mechanical design using SolidWorks, and fabrication through FDM 3D printing.

• Thermal analysis using SolidWorks.

• Aesthetic design through mesh modeling in Autodesk Inventor.

• Study and selection of the system’s CPU.

• Integration and analysis of sensors: capacitive, temperature, presence, and joint position feedback.

• Study and control of actuators: hobby servomotors, audio systems, eye displays, and addressable LEDs.

• Use of microcontrollers and microprocessors for low-level control (ATMEGA family, Pololu servo controllers, and Raspberry Pi), programmed in C++ and Python, with integration into ROS (Robot Operating System) on Linux systems.

• Power system study and consumption analysis.

• Electronic wiring on breadboards and PCBs, followed by design, manufacturing, and testing of PCBs using Eagle and Altium Designer, considering EMI/EMC requirements for CE certification.

• Full 3D modeling of the robot, including integration of models generated in Altium.

Software Development

Software tasks included:

• Development of firmware and communication interfaces with microcontrollers at mid- and low-level (TCP, UART).

• Use of YAML configuration scripts for component initialization.

• Bash scripting and shell command usage.

• Adaptation of the power button actions and management of internal system interrupts (e.g., audio jack connection and disconnection).

Additional Projects

Additional projects developed within the lab included:

• Design of a luminous cube with wireless charging and WiFi communication, based on a multi-board system with an ESP32 microcontroller and sensors, including an IMU, designed in Altium Designer.

• Vehicle geolocation project using LoRa radio technology and GPS modules.

• Programming ATtiny microcontrollers for low-power projects.

• 3D printer maintenance and supervision of a mobile base development.

• Creation of code documentation with Doxygen, project documentation with LaTeX, use of version control with Git (GitLab and GitHub), and execution of continuous integration tests.