Experience

Senior research scientist

Sony Advanced Visual Sensing, Sony Semiconductor Solutions [Apr 2025 - Now] [Zürich, Switzerland]

Leading an international project to integrate the Sony IMX636 sensor with asynchronous processing for a privacy-preserving embedded vision product.

Sony R&D Center, Sony Europe [Oct 2022 - Mar 2025] [Zürich, Switzerland]

Coordinated and contributed to hardware-aware algorithmic exploration and benchmarking activities for always-on edge AI.
Implemented real-time demos of embedded computer vision applications (human action recognition, gesture classification, face detection, etc.) using event-based vision sensors and neuromorphic processors (Speck, Loihi2).
Managed two university collaborations with ETH Zurich and TUDelft under the Sony Research Award Program.

Postdoctoral researcher

Bio-Inspired Circuits and Systems Lab, University of Groningen [Oct 2020 - Sep 2022] [Groningen, Netherlands]

Proposed a framework to better understand brain-inspired learning with local synaptic plasticity mechanisms, and developed the Event-based Three-factor Local Plasticity (ETLP) to enable online learning with neuromorphic hardware.
Investigated the computational primitives of spiking neurons for temporal patterns recognition, with applications in keyword spotting.
Introduced a new benchmark for event-based tactile sensing, and developed a software tool to deploy recurrent SNNs on the Loihi neuromorphic chip.
Co-supervised PhD/MSc students, fostering inter-disciplinary collaboration.

PhD candidate

EDGE-eBRAIN Team, LEAT Lab, Université Côte d'Azur [Oct 2017 - Sep 2020] [Sophia Antipolis, France]

``Exploration of brain-inspired computing with self-organizing neuromorphic architectures'': Developed a distributed, attention-based, unsupervised learning model, improving multimodal inference accuracy and efficiency.
Introduced a new benchmark for hand gesture recognition based on EMG and event-based camera sensor fusion.

Teaching assistant

Institute of Technology, Université Côte d'Azur [Oct 2017 - Sep 2020] [Nice, France]

Delivered 200+ hours of teaching in programming and deep learning.

Research intern

EDGE-eBRAIN Team, LEAT Lab, Université Côte d'Azur [Apr 2017 - Sep 2017] [Sophia Antipolis, France]

Built dense and spiking MLP models (C++) and designed a lightweight hardware architecture (VHDL) to benchmark their performance.

Scientific supervision

Research group

Bio-Inspired Circuits and Systems [Oct 2020 - Sep 2022] [Groningen, Netherlands]: Co-supervising the research on brain-inspired learning using spiking neural networks with Prof. Elisabetta Chicca.

Postdocs

Matthew Yedutenko [Oct 2022 - June 2022] [Zurich, Switzerland]: Bio-inspired vision for fast and robust autonomous navigation.

PhD students

Alejandro Pequeño-Zurro - Visiting PhD student [Apr 2022 - Sep 2022] [Groningen, Netherlands]: Training the Time Difference Encoder (TDE) for keyword spotting at the edge.
Fernando M. Quintana Velázquez - Visiting PhD student [Oct 2021 - Sep 2022] [Groningen, Netherlands]: Confronting event-based three-factor local learning techniques for FPGA-based on-chip training of spiking neural networks.

Master students

Claire Alexandra Bräuer - Master internship [Oct 2024 - Mar 2025] [Zurich, Switzerland]: Human action recognition using Sony IMX636 and asynchronous processing.
Caterina Caccavella - Master thesis + internship [Apr 2023 - Mar 2024] [Zurich, Switzerland]: Low-power inference with EVS, neuromorphic processors and SNNs.
Tales Braig - Master project [Apr 2022 - Sep 2022] [Groningen, Netherlands]: Self-organizing spiking neural networks for post-labeled unsupervised learning of event-based patterns.
Mohamed Sadek Bouanane - Master thesis [Sep 2021 - Sep 2022] [Groningen, Netherlands]: Exploration of spiking neurons leakages and network recurrences for spike-based spatio-temporal pattern recognition.
Julian Lopez Gordillo - Master thesis [Jan 2021 - Jan 2022] [Groningen, Netherlands]: Local unsupervised learning of multi-sensory event-based data with spiking neural networks.
Ton Juny Pina - Master thesis [Jan 2021 - Dec 2021] [Groningen, Netherlands]: Keyword spotting with the Time Difference Encoder (TDE).
Marino Rasamuel - Master thesis [Apr 2018 - Sep 2018] [Sophia Antipolis, France]: Dynamic neural fields for embedded attentional process.
Ulkar Alakbarova - Master project [Jun 2017 - Jul 2017] [Sophia Antipolis, France]: FPGA-based hardware design of a multi-layer perceptron.

Bachelor students

Yann Zavattero - Bachelor project [Mar 2019 - Jun 2019] [Sophia Antipolis, France]: Efficient object recognition and tracking using eembedded artificial neural networks on the Intel Movidious chip.

Jury member

PhD defenses

Loïc Cordone [December 2022] [Université Côte d'Azur, France]: Performance of spiking neural networks on event data for embedded automotive applications.

Master defenses

Mohamed Sadek Bouanane [July 2022] [University of Boumerdes, Algeria]: Exploration of spiking neurons leakages and network recurrences for spike-based spatio-temporal pattern recognition.
Julian Lopez Gordillo [Jan 2022] [University of Groningen, Netherlands]: Local unsupervised learning of multi-sensory event-based data with spiking neural networks.
Ton Juny Pina [Dec 2021] [University of Groningen, Netherlands]: Keyword spotting with the Time Difference Encoder (TDE).

Collaborative projects

Sony Research Award Program: Autonomous Navigation using Event-Based Cameras

Sony R&D Center, ETH Zurich [Jan 2024 - Dec 2024] [Zurich, Switzerland]

Implemented a dedicated hardware interface for the event-based sensor and evaluated its performance for collision avoidance in a FPGA-drone.

Sony Research Award Program: Bio-inspired Optical Flow Estimation

Sony R&D Center, TUDelft [Oct 2022 - Sep 2023] [Zurich, Switzerland]

Proposed an efficient spike-based computational primitive for efficient optical flow estimation.

Telluride Workshop: Neuromorphic Tactile Perception

Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, University of Groningen, Politecnico di Torino, University of Zurich, University of Basel, Silicon Austria Labs, Intel Labs [Jun 2021 - Jun 2022] [Groningen, Netherlands]

Explored the potential of an end-to-end neuromorphic system for tactile perception with event-based communication (sensor level), asynchronous processing on Loihi (hardware level) and spike-based computing (algorithmic level) for the physical interaction of robots with their environment.

Intel Neuromorphic Research Community (INRC): Time Difference Encoder (TDE) on Loihi

University of Groningen, University of Seville, Intel Labs [Oct 2020 - Oct 2021] [Groningen, Netherlands]

Implemented the Time Difference Encoder (TDE) on Loihi for various spatio-temporal pattern recognition applications at the edge.

CapoCaccia Workshop: Neuromorphic EVS+EMG Multimodal Perception

University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, Université Catholique de Louvain, National University of Singapore, Université Côte d'Azur [May 2019 - Aug 2020] [Sophia Antipolis, France]

Collected a dataset of EVS+EMG for hand gesture classification to explore the potential of SNNs and neuromorphic hardware for multimodal inference at the edge.

French ANR/Swiss FNS: Self-Organizing Machine Architecture (SOMA)

Université Côte d'Azur, University of Lorraine, University of Bordeaux, University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland [Mar 2018 - Sep 2020] [Sophia Antipolis, France]

Explored algorithmic modeling of brain-inspired self-organization with structural and synaptic plasticity mechanisms for FPGA-based cellular neuromorphic implementations.

IDEX UCA Jedi: Neural Computing (NeuComp)

Université Côte d'Azur: LEAT Lab, I3S, Inria and LJAD [Apr 2017 - Sep 2017] [Sophia Antipolis, France]

Investigated algorithmic modeling, simulation, verification and hardware implementation of spiking neural networks.

EU proposals

EU Horizon: Gemini –Cognitive Digital Twinning in Energy-Efficient Cloud to Edge

Lulea Tekniska Universitet, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, University of Groningen, Technische Universität München, Ericsson, SEB Leasing Oy, Infineon, University of Manchester [Apr 2022] [Groningen, Netherlands]

Gemini targets self-managed cloud to edge systems with hybrid AI based on neuromorphic and digital components. We use the notion of edge and digital twin to seamlessly connect neuromorphic systems and to enable their services to be provided digitally in the cloud edge continuum.
Not funded (score of 3.5 / 5.0).

EU Horizon: Bayesian Neuromorphic Audio Processing with Ferroelectric Memristors and Adaptive Acoustic Sensors

King’s College London, University of Groningen, Technische Universitat Ilmenau, Intel Labs, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Technical University of Denmark [May 2021] [Groningen, Netherlands]

Design and demonstrate prototype neuromorphic circuits and systems that integrate novel spike-based Bayesian algorithms, advanced memristive devices and locally adaptive sensors to implement real-time audio processing applications in noisy environments.
Not funded (score of 4.3 / 5.0).

Program committees

International Conference on Neuromorphic Systems (ICONS) [August 2023] [Santa Fe, USA]
MLSys Workshop on Systems for Next-Gen AI Paradigms (SNAP) [June 2023] [Miami, USA]

Editorial reviews

Frontiers in Neuroscience - Neuromorphic Engineering [4 papers].
Frontiers in Neurorobotics [1 paper].
PeerJ Computer Science [1 paper].
Informatics in Medicine Unlocked [1 paper].
IEEE AICAS Conference [2 papers].
IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium [2 papers].

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