José Santos-Victor
Also known as Jose Santos-Victor
José Santos-Victor earned engineering degrees at Instituto Superior Técnico in 1988, 1991, and 1995. His work combines computer and robot vision with models of biological perception. He studies visual navigation and control of land, air, and underwater vehicles, and cognitive humanoid systems that learn and adapt. He studies action recognition, imitation, programming by demonstration, and object affordances for manipulation and language. He served as president of ISR-Lisboa from 2015 to 2022 and led the electrical and computer engineering department from 2021 to 2024.
- Works
- 314
- Citations
- 7,451
- h-index
- 40
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.
Timeline
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1988–1995
Electrical and computer engineering
Santos-Victor earned an engineering degree in 1988, a master’s degree in 1991, and a doctorate in 1995, all at Instituto Superior Técnico. His later research brings this engineering background to computer vision and the control of robotic systems.
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As of October 2026
Vision for navigation and control
He studies vision-based navigation, motion perception, and closed-loop control. His work covers mapping and control of vehicles on land, in the air, and underwater. He also studies specialised camera geometries, drawing ideas from the visual systems of insects and humans.
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As of October 2026
Learning in humanoid systems
He works with neuroscientists and developmental psychologists on cognitive humanoid systems. The research includes recognising human actions, learning by imitation, and programming by demonstration. Object affordance models address manipulation, language grounding, and choosing tools for a task.
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2015–2024
Research and department leadership
He served as president of ISR-Lisboa from 2015 to 2022. He also chaired IST’s electrical and computer engineering department from 2021 to 2024. These dated roles accompany a continuing research programme in vision and cognitive robotics.
Sources and credits
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