README
Mauricio Muñoz Arias

Hola — Mauricio here.

I am an Assistant Professor in Autonomous Systems at the Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG), University of Groningen. My work sits at the intersection of nonlinear control, port-Hamiltonian systems, and industrial robotics.

I care about building machines that are honest about their energy and their limits — and about teaching engineers to build them too. I run MCDC, a course where students design, argue, build, and occasionally break things under real constraints.

I'm from Costa Rica. I live in Groningen with my family.

Say hi at [email protected]

Active projects

My current funded projects span structural health monitoring, AI-driven industrial sorting, and robotic welding for shipbuilding. I supervise a team of PhD candidates and EngD trainees across these projects.

HyperBRIDGE

Interreg VI A · 2023–2026

AI-driven structural health monitoring for hyperloop infrastructure. Cross-border collaboration between Groningen and partners in Germany. We develop sensing strategies and diagnostic models for large-scale tube structures under operational loads.

PhD candidate: Keyvan Delfarah (cotutelle with Macquarie University). EngD trainees: Rinnert Jan Politiek and Enrico Portella at Omnidots.

S3ORTED

AI · Hyperspectral Imaging · Textile Sorting

Autonomous sorting of textile waste using hyperspectral cameras and machine learning. We explore the 2000nm+ wavelength range for contaminant detection.

PhD candidates: Ali Ahmadi and Azamat Kaibaldiyev (onboarded early 2026).

RoLinGS

Robotics · Laser Welding · Shipbuilding

Robotic laser welding systems for the maritime industry, bridging formal control methods with shop-floor constraints. In collaboration with Conoship and Kroes Marine.

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and thesis work. Full list on Google Scholar.

Robotics

[1] H. Ma, M. Muñoz-Arias, J. M. A. Scherpen, and A. Macchelli, "An energy-based approach to the force-impedance control problem for robot manipulators," IEEE Trans. Control Systems Technology, 2025.

[2] M. Muñoz-Arias, J. M. A. Scherpen, and A. Macchelli, "An impedance grasping strategy," in Proc. 53rd IEEE CDC, Los Angeles, 2014, pp. 1403–1408.

[3] M. Muñoz-Arias, M. I. El-Hawwary, and J. M. A. Scherpen, "Image-based visual servo control using the port-Hamiltonian approach," IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 48, no. 13, pp. 105–110, 2015.

[4] M. Muñoz-Arias, J. M. A. Scherpen, and D. A. Dirksz, "Position control via force feedback for a class of standard mechanical systems," in Proc. 52nd IEEE CDC, Florence, 2013, pp. 1622–1627.

[5] M. Muñoz-Arias, J. M. A. Scherpen, and D. A. Dirksz, "Force control of a class of standard mechanical systems," IFAC Proc. Volumes, vol. 46, no. 23, pp. 377–382, 2013.

[6] C. Chan-Zheng, M. Muñoz-Arias, and J. M. A. Scherpen, "Tuning rules for passivity-based integral control for a class of mechanical systems," IEEE Control Systems Letters, vol. 7, pp. 37–42, 2022.

[7] H. Jardón-Kojakhmetov, M. Muñoz-Arias, and J. M. A. Scherpen, "Model reduction of a flexible-joint robot," in Proc. NOLCOS, Monterey, 2016.

[8] L. M. Esquivel-Sancho, M. Ghandchi Tehrani, and M. Muñoz-Arias, "Integrated 3DoF modeling and experimental modal analysis for blade fault detection," in Proc. ICOVP, 2025.

[9] L. M. Esquivel-Sancho, M. Ghandchi Tehrani, M. Muñoz-Arias, and M. Askari, "Fault diagnosis of 3D-printed scaled wind turbine blades," arXiv:2505.06080, 2025.

[10] M. Muñoz-Arias, Energy-Based Control Design for Mechanical Systems, PhD thesis, University of Groningen, 2015.

Renewable Energy

[11] H. Phillips-Brenes, M. Muñoz-Arias, R. Pereira-Arroyo, L. M. Esquivel-Sancho, et al., "Passivity-based control for photovoltaic DC-DC conversion and output voltage regulation," IEEE Trans. Control Systems Technology, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 479–492, 2024.

[12] H. Phillips-Brenes, R. Pereira-Arroyo, R. Rímolo-Donadío, and M. Muñoz-Arias, "Current-sensorless control strategy for the MPPT of a PV cell," Int. J. Photoenergy, vol. 2022, art. 1747533, 2022.

[13] L. M. Esquivel-Sancho, R. Pereira-Arroyo, and M. Muñoz-Arias, "A reversible hydropump–turbine system," MDPI Applied Sciences, vol. 12, no. 18, 2022.

[14] L. M. Esquivel-Sancho, R. Pereira-Arroyo, and M. Muñoz-Arias, "An energy-based approach to the induction machine," in Proc. ECC, Rotterdam, 2021.

[15] H. Phillips-Brenes, R. Pereira-Arroyo, and M. Muñoz-Arias, "Energy-based model of a solar-powered pumped-hydro storage system," in Proc. IEEE CONCAPAN XXXIX, Guatemala City, 2019.

[16] J. J. Barradas-Berglind, M. Muñoz-Arias, Y. Wei, W. A. Prins, A. I. Vakis, et al., "Towards Ocean Grazer's modular power take-off system modeling," IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 15663–15669, 2017.

[17] M. Z. Almuzakki, J. J. Barradas-Berglind, Y. Wei, M. Muñoz-Arias, A. I. Vakis, et al., "A port-Hamiltonian approach to Cummins' equation for floater arrays," IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 155–160, 2018.

Biophysics

[18] M. Muñoz-Arias, J. K. Douglass, M. F. Wehling, and D. G. Stavenga, "Automated charting of the visual space of housefly compound eyes," J. Visualized Experiments (JoVE), 2022.

Aerospace Systems

[19] H. Ma, M. Muñoz-Arias, P. Han, J. Zheng, and D. Gao, "An energy-based approach to the nonlinear modeling and drag-free control of space-borne gravitational wave detectors," IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 5868–5879, 2024.

[20] M. Muñoz-Arias, "An energy-based approach to satellite attitude control in presence of disturbances," in Proc. EUCASS, Madrid, 2019.

[21] A. Chaves-Jiménez, G. Vargas-Villegas, A. Zamora-Mendieta, M. Muñoz-Arias, et al., "Design of ADCS system for Earth observation using a 3-unit CubeSat," in Proc. IAA Latin American CubeSat Workshop, 2022.

Engineering Education

[22] M. P. van der Steen, M. Muñoz-Arias, and G. Jonker, "Treating engineering students equally without treating them equally: exploring the multi-evaluator paradox of a capstone engineering design project," Education for Chemical Engineers, 2025.

[23] M. Kloosterman, M. Muñoz-Arias, and G. Jonker, "Enhancing engineering education with a modular pneumatic rover," 2025.

Teaching

I hold an education-focused profile (60/40 split) at ENTEG. My teaching spans undergraduate craftsmanship, EngD professional development, and PhD supervision. I completed my Senior Teaching Qualification (STQ) in 2025.

MCDC — Mechanical Craftsmanship and Design Challenges

IEM Bachelor · Year 1 · ~72 students · Spring 2026

Students design and build working mechanisms under real constraints. The course is deliberately uncomfortable. That is the point. I coordinate MCDC alongside Mehran Mohebbi. The course was nominated for the Dutch Education Award 2026 and finished in the national top 5.

EngD Supervision

PDEng programme · ENTEG

I supervise EngD trainees placed at industry partners. Current trainees: Rinnert Jan Politiek and Enrico Portella (Omnidots, HyperBRIDGE).

PhD Candidates

Keyvan Delfarah — Structural health monitoring for hyperloop, cotutelle with Macquarie University.

Ali Ahmadi — Hyperspectral imaging and ML for textile sorting.

Azamat Kaibaldiyev — AI-driven textile waste classification.

Notes

Short writing. Things I notice, things I think about, things I cannot fit anywhere else.

On teaching SolidWorks when SolidWorks is not the point

Every year I watch students spend the first three weeks of MCDC trying to learn the software. They want to get the tool right before they get the thinking right. I understand the instinct — it feels safe. But SolidWorks is not the point. The constraint is the point. The 1 kg limit is the point. The dyad is the point.

The software is just a pencil.

When I tell students this, some of them look relieved. Others look more anxious. The ones who look more anxious are usually the ones who will learn the most.

Why I built a lion head animatronic for a museum

A few years ago I decided to build a lion head animatronic using a Raspberry Pi 5, a Hailo-8L neural processing chip, and Dynamixel servos. It now lives at the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam.

The honest answer to why: I wanted to prove to myself that I could still build something with my hands. Research can become very abstract very quickly. You write papers, you review papers, you give talks about papers. The lion was a correction.

The other honest answer: Hugo thought it was the best thing I had ever done.

Groningen in February

There is a particular quality of light in Groningen in February. It is not the dark of December — that is total and complete. February is something else: grey light that seems to arrive from no direction, a sky that refuses to commit. You learn to find warmth in small things. The fietspad is empty. The canal is still.

I have been here long enough that this feels like home. I am still surprised by this fact.

Corto Maltese and the ethics of wandering

Hugo Pratt understood something about freedom that most adventure stories get wrong. Corto Maltese is not free because he has no obligations. He is free because he chooses his obligations carefully, and he is honest about the ones he cannot escape.

I read Corto Maltese in Spanish, which is probably the correct language for a character who is always slightly out of place wherever he goes.

The hyperloop is just a train that hasn't been humbled yet

Every new transportation technology goes through the same arc. First: boundless optimism, physics-defying projections, magazine covers. Then: the boring problem of making it actually work at scale, in weather, with real maintenance budgets.

Our job in HyperBRIDGE is structural health monitoring — which is, fundamentally, the engineering discipline of listening to what the structure is trying to tell you. Structures always have opinions. The interesting question is whether you have the instruments to hear them.

Chess and the illusion of control

I play chess badly. I play it often. These two facts are related.

The thing that keeps pulling me back is the clean relationship between decision and consequence. Every bad move is immediately punishable. There is nowhere to hide. I find this clarifying, even when it is humiliating.

Port-Hamiltonian systems have a similar quality. The energy accounting is exact. If something goes wrong, you can trace it.

What I think about when I think about port-Hamiltonian systems

I think about energy. Not in a mystical way — in a very specific, accountable way. Where does the energy enter the system? Where does it leave? What does it do while it is inside?

A port-Hamiltonian model is a way of writing down a system so that these questions have clear answers. The ports are where the system touches the world. The Hamiltonian is what the system is carrying. The structure matrix is the grammar of how energy moves.

When you design a controller, you are essentially reshaping the energy landscape. You are telling the system: here is where I want the minimum to be. The system will find it.

Hugo at five: what he is learning that I am not

Hugo asks why about everything. Not the polite, conversational why — the persistent, recursive, genuinely-wants-to-know why. I have noticed that I stopped asking why somewhere along the way. I started asking how. How does this work. How do I fix this. How do I model this.

Why is harder. Why requires that you be uncertain about the goal, not just the method.

I am trying to learn it back from him.