Lucas Nascimento - Experience

Featured

sBotics

Author & Developer • 2018 - present

Brazilian Robotics Olympiad (part-time) • Aug. 2020 - present

Gameplay: [1] [2]

Certificates:

OBR [Certificate] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5];
RoboCupJunior [Certificate] [1] [2];
National Robotics Fair [Certificate];
[Mundo Robótica Magazine] (P. 13);
IFRN [Certificate].

About

sBotics is an Educational Robotics simulator and educational suite I authored focused on recreating the world-famous RobocupJr Rescue Line tournament environment, offering users with a bundle of different customizing, management and programming options, enabling all sorts of simulations. With sBotics it is possible to create not only robots tailored to the RobocupJr Rescue Line competition, but all sorts of simple robots, as well as configure different surroundings. Read more

sBotics' vision is to create a lightweight and inexpensive Robotics Kit that can be run in the broadest range of computers and better close the gap in the democratization of Robotics in this unequal world. Currently the simulation platform is less than 80mb (and extremely optimized for old hardware), and uses the servers only when it needs to.

Created to be used in classrooms, it's possible to teach students important concepts in the field of robotics, as well as managing a team to participate in a robotics competition / create your very own to challenge others.

The idea of an educational robotics simulation platform started in the Federal Institute of Education, Technology, and Science of Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN, Brazil) in late 2017. Professor Sarah Sá and I made the first sketches, prototypes and diagramming of what would become the platform for years to come. In the following year I started the simulator's development, obtaining a research scholarship (that resulted in the first publication seen below) around april 2018, as well as assembling a team to help with other tasks such as managing servers and the rEduc language to C# transpiler (as though the simulator itself runs on Unity, user programs and settings are stored in our servers, accessed by the simulator through the use of APIs).

Hosting tournaments for the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad as well as RoboCupJr Worldwide, boasting thousands of users in Brazil and having a healthy community that produces tutorials, videos and instagram posts, it's by far the most complete and lightweight platform for its target audience, perhaps in the world.

Technologies used: Unity (UI, C# scripting, API communication, code injection, optimization); Front-end web technologies; UML Diagramming; Photoshop; Adobe XD; Git; Linux.

Other skills: Leadership and Teamwork; Communication; Conflict Resolution.

Organizations served

Publications

1st Author

sBotics - Gamified Framework for Educational Robotics. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems; 102(1): 17, 2021. [PDF]

1st Author

sBotics: Simulation Applied for the Practical Component of the Brazilian Robotics Olympiad. 2019 Latin American Robotics Symposium (LARS), 2019 Brazilian Symposium on Robotics (SBR), and 2019 Workshop on Robotics in Education (WRE), 2019. p. 487. [PDF]

Experience

Robocup Brasil

• Nov. 2022 - present (Full-time; 40h/wk)

Working for RoboCup Brazil, I have several responsibilities as a Software Engineer and a leading Frontend Developer:

Discussing with clients to better understand their needs and concerns;
Diagramming and planning future features, creating intelligent solutions for all requirements;
Designing and testing user interfaces for different 'actors,' ensuring the best UX practices;
Improving SEO metrics and PageSpeed scores;
Developing new features and fixing bugs;
Refactoring underperforming code;
Improving the architecture for future scalability.

In this position, although most of the time I'm involved in front-end duties, I occasionally work on some back-end tasks as well. [Certificate]

Role: Software Engineer

Olimpíada Brasileira de Robótica

• Aug. 2020 - present (Contract)

See above

Socio Nerd

• Feb. 2019 - May 2020 (Part-time; 30h/wk)

Sócio Nerd is a software development agency focused on medium and small companies in Natal, Brazil.

Here, I worked as a full-stack Ruby on Rails developer, using many other technologies such as AngularJS and MongoDB.

I was responsible for maintaining and developing new solutions for the many clients involved with Sócio Nerd, keeping track of all tasks using Jira and Asana.

[Certificate]

Role: Full-stack Web Developer

IFRN

• Apr. 2018 - Nov. 2018 (Part-time; 20h/wk)

During this time I analysed the feasibility of developing an Educational Robotics simulator using Unity (C#) and coded the first version of what would become sBotics. [Certificate]

Role: Research Scholar and Game Developer

Projects

2018, IFRN • Platform for scientific paper analysis through Data Mining techniques

The project description below was written in 2018, and translated in 2022.

Data mining is a step in the process of acquiring knowledge contained in a large volume of data. With the growth of scientific and technological advances, it has become increasingly complex to establish the state of the art of certain research topics and tools. However, a large volume of data represents a valuable source of information, as it records vital measurements of one or more entities of interest, whether they are commercial, scientific or governmental. This project aimed at developing a web platform for collecting and analyzing data from scientific articles using data mining techniques. The platform was designed to provide, from a set of articles inserted, a mapping of research topics, keywords, places of scientific production, authors involved, topics for future works and other relevant data.

[Certificate]

2017, IFRN • Implementing and analysing Educational Robotics workshops in public state-funded schools

The project description below was written in 2017, and translated in 2022.

This project aimed at implementing and monitoring Robotics workshops in state-funded public schools of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Educational robotics can be thought of as an innovative tool that allows students involved in workshops to stimulate their investigative thinking, develop logical reasoning, motor coordination and help in the learning of interdisciplinary content. With this project, we sought to allow teachers of propaedeutic disciplines to feel more comfortable and encouraged to apply this "tool", giving the necessary support in the preparation and execution of workshops.

[Certificate]

2016, IFRN • Water usage and management app for Natal's IFRN Campus Central

The project description below was written in 2016, and translated in 2020.

All around the planet, different population groups suffer from the lack of water, mainly driven by water wastage or mismanagement. Because of the global scale of the situation, all sectors of society are being educated to develop different solutions for this critical problem. This imminent reality motivated the development of this platform, with the main objective of creating a water-saving culture among the students of Natal's IFRN Campus Central high school and community college. The app features a simple interface, where every student or professor can take pictures of a water-related problem around the campus and report it to the water management department.

[Certificate]

Other Publications

Perspectives on the Use of Educational Robotics in Health: A Systematic Review.

2018 Latin American Robotics Symposium (LARS), 2018 Brazilian Symposium on Robotics (SBR) and 2018 Workshop on Robotics in Education (WRE). Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE, 2018. v. 1. p. 610-616.

[Certificate] [PDF]

Methodological Proposal for the Training of Teachers in Educational Robotics.

Workshop of Robotics in Education (WRE), 2017, Curitiba. Proc. of WRE 2017. Curitiba: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação, 2017. v. 1.

[PDF]