Welcome to Adrien Guénard

Adrien Guénard joined the Loria in January 2018 as a CNRS research engineer. He is a member of the Loria’s SISR (Reseach I.T. Support department) working alongside Patrice Ringot and Fabrice Sabatier who are both from the CNRS as well. Let’s look at the career path of this former student from the ENSEM in Nancy who is a mobile and flying robotics enthusiast.

How he got started in robotics

Adrien Guénard discovered robotics during an internship at the end of his studies for a master’s degree in industrial automation and computing. The CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) asked him to design virtual reality interface control algorithms which can be used to touch a virtual object. He worked for six months with robots manipulating a virtual environment with force control. Via the robot, an operator can manipulate a tool in a virtual world thus experiencing the interaction forces involved.

In 2009, he joined the Inria then the Loria as an engineer. He was first part of the Trio team before moving on to the Madynes team. With Trio, he worked on an experimental project for a year called CRISTAL which consisted of designing algorithms for fleets of autonomous vehicles. He then worked on the SAMOVAR project for a simulator of cyber-physical systems.

His projects were to take him to Lyon where, in 2012, the CPE of Lyon (a French “Grande École” specialized in Chemistry, Physics and Electronics) asked him to set up a training course in robotics and embedded systems. He was also put in a charge of a platform promoting robotics within the School.

From the Alerion start-up company to the SISR platform

While at the Loria, Adrien Guénard worked in the Madynes team with Laurent Ciarletta. In 2012, the team worked on the creation of the drones platform and the AETOURNOS Cyber Physical
System (CPS). This was the first application for formation flying, imitating the flight of birds.

The research project led to the creation of a company when Adrien Guénard and Laurent Ciarletta jointly set up the start-up company Alerion in 2014 and were joined by three other associates. The company consists of a design and study office which develops control software integrating functional, software and material components. The Hydradrones project for the design of hybrid flying navigational drones emerged next in partnership with the company Pedon Environnements.

He left the start-up company in 2016 to join Altran, an Airbus subcontracting company, as a consultant in Toulouse. While there, he developed projects involving drones and more broadly worked on research projects in aeronautics.

Today at the Loria, he works in the SISR where his main mission is the creation of the Creativ’Lab. Recently he also became a research valorisation officer at the Loria. We wish him all success and fulfilment in his new projects.