Martin Azkarate

Head of Robotics Section

Noordwijk-Binnen, South Holland, Netherlands

About

Experienced robotics enthusiast exploring the boundaries of technology looking forward to the next breakthrough. Working hard to build sophisticated intelligent systems capable of performing more and more complex tasks and assist us in different areas such as common daily activities, industrial processes, hazardous zones or space exploration. The Singularity is coming! Currently: Planetary Robotics Lab Manager Technical Officer of several ESA activities and Lab R&D projects. Field Test activities in the area of Remote Rover Operations and in Autonomous Rover Navigation. Organizer of the ASTRA 2015 Symposium and the 'Robot Control Operating System' (RCOS) Experts Forum. Aerospace and Telecommunications Engineer specialized in Control Engineering. Worked on several interdisciplinary projects, within a multicultural environment. Remarkable participation in SPHERES project at the Space Systems Lab of MIT. Working at the Automation & Robotics Section of ESA/ESTEC since 2012 on the design and development of rovers for planetary exploration with special focus on the implementation of a generic control architecture for rovers. Skills: Control Engineering Robotics Systems and Subsystems System Engineering Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) Programming in several languages Robotic Software Frameworks (RoCK, ROS) System Modeling, Simulation and Data Analysis Signal Processing Matlab and Simulink simulation Aerospace Engineering Satellite Telecommunications Information Technologies Networking

Experience

  • European Space Agency - ESA (Noordwijk-Binnen, South Holland, Netherlands)
    • Head of Robotics Section
      Nov 2025 - Present · 8 mos

    • Robot Navigation System Engineer
      Nov 2022 - Present · 3 yrs 8 mos

  • HE Space Operations (ESA/ESTEC)
    • GNC System Engineer for Sample Fetch Rover Mission
      Sep 2020 - Oct 2022 · 2 yrs 2 mos

    • Space Automation and Robotics Engineer
      Mar 2014 - Oct 2022 · 8 yrs 8 mos

      Planetary Robotics Lab Manager. Leading a group of 5-10 people. Supporting the activities of the section on the fields of rovers for planetary exploration and space automation. System Engineering - Development of lab prototype rovers: - ExoMars Testing Rover (ExoTeR): 2012-2015 - Martian Rover Testbed for Autonomy (MaRTA): 2015-present Participated as Robotics expert in the ESA internal CDF study of MarsFAST rover.

  • Control Engineer for Space Robotics at TECNALIA Research & Innovation
    Mar 2012 - Feb 2014 · 2 yrs

    Working in the Automation ans Robotics Section of ESA/ESTEC under the National Trainee Programme.

  • IT Strategy Analyst at Accenture
    Jan 2010 - Aug 2011 · 1 yr 8 mos

    Member of the Project Management Organization team taking responsabilities of managing activities at low level. Extensive use of the Microsoft Office Package. Development of customized applications using VBA.

  • Assistant Researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Apr 2009 - Oct 2009 · 7 mos

    Development and testing of control algorithms for formation flight spacecraft system. - C and Matlab implementation - Testing in zerogravity onboard the ISS