At DEQ we are very proud to announce that several members of our team from UPM-AI team (José Luis Blanco-leader, Virginia Yagüe, José Eugenio Ortiz, Josefa Herrero and José Ignacio Escavy), have won the first prize in the Actúa UPM 2024 competition. This award recognizes innovation and entrepreneurship at theUniversidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM).
The winning team, in addition to the professors from our school, is composed of members from various UPM schools, such as the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación (ETSIT) and the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos. Collaborators from the Faculty of Geological Sciences at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid also participated.
Together, as part of the project funded by the European Commission and led by ANEFA, José Luis Blanco and José Ignacio Escavy have created Acopia, a solution that employs artificial intelligence and signal processing, with minimal human intervention, to improve efficiency in companies within the construction materials sector. Through a mobile application, the platform allows users to register material piles using the device’s camera, generating precise reports on their volume. This is a pioneering development in the construction industry’s automation of material measurement and quantification. It has already been validated in quarries in Spain, Italy, and France, and it will begin implementation in Galicia and Granada at the beginning of 2025.
As Virginia Yagüe herself stated, “Success comes when the right people and the right environment are brought together.” This award is, without a doubt, a reflection of the joint effort of all the team members.»
