Serafin Diaz

Qualcomm (United Kingdom), Qualcomm (United States)

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Serafin Diaz is a pioneer in democratizing aerial robotics by repurposing consumer-grade smartphone technology for autonomous flight. His research focuses on leveraging the plummeting price/performance ratio of sensors and processors—such as cameras, gyroscopes, and accelerometers found in everyday devices—to build low-cost, accessible flying robots. His seminal 2015 paper, "Smartphones power flying robots" (40 citations), demonstrated the feasibility of using smartphone components for aerial robotics, challenging the need for expensive, specialized hardware. Building on this, his 2016 work "A swarm of flying smartphones" (20 citations) extended the concept to multi-robot systems, enabling autonomous deployment in GPS-denied environments. His 2018 paper on cooperative control for reconstruction (5 citations) further showcased how these smartphone-powered drones can collaborate for tasks like 3D mapping. Diaz’s contributions have opened new possibilities for low-cost drone swarms in search-and-rescue, environmental monitoring, and infrastructure inspection, making advanced aerial robotics more affordable and scalable.