Alberto Jaenal: “Research is about always thinking differently”

What led you to pursue a career in research?

I’ve always had a strong academic interest. During my undergraduate studies, it became very clear to me. I was always drawn to the theoretical side of things to truly understanding them. Not just from a superficial perspective, but trying to go a bit further, finding an explanation, and looking for different ways to solve problems. I always found it fascinating to go that step further, seeking better explanations.

What is your line of research?

My research focuses on Visual Place Recognition (VPR). Essentially, it involves detecting that you are in a location you have visited before. For instance, imagine you have a visual map of any given city but no GPS signal. Picture yourself in a northern city, perhaps in Scandinavia. In such a place, there are massive visual changes between winter and summer; it’s all white with snow in the winter, whereas in the summer, the vegetation is lush and everything is green. There are significant visual shifts, and what we do is try to make the artificial intelligence algorithm we work with robust against these types of changes in visual appearance. We want it to be capable of identifying what remains constant in order to achieve accurate localization and prevent the device from getting lost.

And what specific areas of focus does this research cover?

It has applications across many fields. It is crucial for autonomous vehicles. There is also a discipline that compares drone or satellite imagery with ground-level images to perform visual place recognition. Another example is localization inside buildings, where GPS is ineffective. It is also vital for any robotics application. For instance, there are navigation and mapping applications used in sewer systems to avoid putting people at risk. It even applies to the human body. Here at the I3A, there is a very interesting project involving the mapping of the human colon. These are very difficult images to process because there is constant movement and frequent changes in lighting. You can easily lose track of your position, so having a map of the area is essential during a surgical procedure. It has countless applications; anything that requires localization based on imagery can benefit from this.

Is there a particular project you’ve worked on that stands out to you?

During my PhD, I worked on very diverse projects. Some were strictly academic, focusing on "pure localization"—which essentially means stripping away practical applications to focus on improving specific modules. I also worked on robotic olfaction, focusing on the underlying artificial intelligence, as part of my team at the time was specialized in artificial smell. Later, I spent several years in Sweden at Ericsson Research in Stockholm, where I worked on improving the communication processes within visual localization algorithms.

How do you see the future of your research area? What trends or challenges would you highlight?

Right now, everything in my field is moving incredibly fast. In fact, I believe one of the greatest challenges is simply staying current, as so many fascinating papers are being published. They all follow very clear lines of research. Often, the hardest part is not the research itself, but finding your own niche, identifying a path that has not been extensively explored yet. With the advancement of Artificial Intelligence, challenges that seemed unsolvable ten years ago are now being addressed through highly innovative solutions. Consequently, the trends and applications in this field are becoming increasingly diverse.

In your opinion, what does the development of AI mean for research?

It has democratized everything significantly. A colleague of mine says that, thanks to AI, many more people find it much easier to program now. Why? Because there is an AI that can do it for you. You have to review it afterward, of course. But if you have an idea, you can develop it much faster than five years ago, when you had to start from scratch or build incrementally on what others had done. Through a back-and-forth process, a sort of "ping-pong" with the technology, you can suddenly have an algorithm that executes that idea, allowing you to test it, implement it, or discard it much more quickly.

What has receiving European backing meant for your work?

It is an honor to be among those who have received this recognition. I am still an early-career researcher, and this is a validation of what I have achieved so far—my line of research, my track record, and my collaboration with this University and my supervisor, Javier Civera. It is very rewarding to see that the path I have been working on is now being endorsed by research experts, such as those who evaluate for the European Research Council. It is also very exciting because it is one of the most prestigious fellowships in Europe, and it grants me a research stay that allows me to collaborate with other researchers across the continent.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

What I enjoy most is when we come up with slightly "out-of-the-box" ideas, facing a problem that initially seems unsolvable and thinking, "How can we approach this differently?" Then, finally finding an innovative solution and starting to develop it. There is a lot of frustration involved in trying to bring an idea to life and seeing why it isn’t working... I find it incredibly rewarding when you take an unconventional idea, push it forward, and actually make it work. Then comes the process of writing a strong paper on that innovation, being able to "sell" your idea, and having experts recognize its utility and potential by deciding to publish it. Seeing what you are, building take shape is very fulfilling. Later, when other people use that work to keep advancing, that’s one of the things, I like most.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a career in research?

Above all, I would tell them that the most important thing is to maintain your enthusiasm, your drive to contribute, and to stay very current with everything happening in the field. You have to be clear that research is about doing what no one else has done before and always thinking differently. Public institutions or companies will always support that approach because, ultimately, you are developing a way of thinking that always pushes boundaries.