I am a Computer Science PhD graduate from the University of Central Florida. I gratudated under the supervision of of my advisors,
Dr. Annie Wu andDr. Ryan McMahan. I completed my dissertation defense under my committee members Dr. Annie Wu, Dr. Ryan McMahan,
Dr. Lori Walters, and Dr. Charlie Hughes. My dissertation work focused on examining the systematic evaluation of performance of SLAM
under different synthetic environments. The key goal of my research was to determine specific environment factors that can affect the performance of SLAM algorithms.
My research has spanned multiple fields such as computer vision, robotics, and XR development but has primiarily focused on robot vision for my dissertation.
I have multiple academic projects over the years. These have included the CLOVR data collection tool for SteamVR applications, RecolorCloud point cloud editor plugin suite,
FinalCloud point cloud editing and recolorer tool, Mixed reality project - Gesture recording studio, Neural network for comparing genetic algorithms in imputed data, Immersive final demo for VR class,
and multiple VR and AR projects during my undergraduate and graduate career. During my undergraduate career I also worked on robotics projects such as developing drivers for haptic devices (Manus VR 2018),
implementing the MS Hololens for autonomous behavior for a Pioneer robot (2017 - 2018), and an Android app for collecting user input and recording average densities for UI presses (2019).
Additionally I have done final projects with computer vision and machine learning applications such as developing a notebook script forking DeepGRU by Mehran Maghoumi to locate
similar strands of genomes through tokenizing individual chromosomes and determining similar patterns (2021).
Lori C. Walters, Robert A. Michlowitz,
Esteban Segarra Martinez, Ryan P. McMahan and Joesph T. Kider, "MemoryScan Environments: Creating Large-Scale Memory-Evocative Digital Twins," 2023 IEEE 3rd International Conference on Digital Twins and Parallel Intelligence (DTPI), Orlando, FL, USA, 2023.
https://doi.org/10.1109/DTPI59677.2023.10365482
Esteban Segarra Martinez, Stephen V Maldonado, Annie Wu, Ryan P. McMahan, Xinliang Liu, and Blake Oakley. July 2022. Effects of Imputation Strategy on Genetic Algorithms and Neural Networks on a Binary Classification Problem. ACM GECCO 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3512290.3528863
Esteban Segarra Martinez, Ayesha A. Malik, and Ryan P. McMahan. “CLOVR: Collecting and Logging OpenVR Data from SteamVR Applications.” In 2024 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), 485–92, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1109/VRW62533.2024.00095 .
Mykola Maslych, Mohammadreza Katebi, Christopher Lee, Yahya Hmaiti, Amirpouya Ghasemaghaei, Christian Pumarada, Janneese Palmer,
Esteban Segarra Martinez, Marco Emporio, Warren Snipes, Ryan P McMahan, Joseph J LaViola Jr.
“Mitigating response delays in free-form conversations with LLM-powered intelligent virtual agents.”
In CUI 2025: Proceedings of the 7th ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces. 2025.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3719160.3736636.
Mykola Maslych, Difeng Yu, Amirpouya Ghasemaghaei, Yahya Hmaiti,
Esteban Segarra Martinez, Dominic Simon, Eugene M. Taranta, Joanna Bergström, and Joseph J. LaViola.
"From Research to Practice: Survey and Taxonomy of Object Selection in Consumer VR Applications."
In 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR), pp. 990-999. IEEE, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ISMAR62088.2024.00115.
Amirpouya Ghasemaghaei, Yahya Hmaiti, Mykola Maslych,
Esteban Segarra Martinez, and Joseph J. LaViola. “Throwing in Virtual Reality: Performance and Preferences Across Input Device Configurations.” In 2024 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), 897–98, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1109/VRW62533.2024.00245.
Amirpouya Ghasemaghaei, Mykola Maslych, Yahya Hmaiti, Esteban Segarra Martinez, and Joseph J LaViola Jr. “Towards Better Throwing: A Comparison of Performance and Preferences Across Point of Release Mechanics in Virtual Reality,” 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3670947.3670963.
Esteban Segarra Martinez and Ryan P. McMahan. RecolorCloud: A Point Cloud Tool for Recoloring, Segmentation, and Conversion. 2023. Planned for publication. Referenced by collaborators.
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2310.12470.
Esteban Segarra Martinez and Bradford Towle Jr. March 2018. Application of an Augmented Reality Device as a Rangefinder and Odometry Source. Inter. Society of Computers and Their Applications
Esteban Segarra Martinez and Bradford Towle Jr. October 2018. Simulating an Unknown Environment with an Integrated Physical and Virtual Space. 27th Proceedings of the Inter. Conference on Software Engineering and Data Engineering.
Esteban Segarra Martinez and Bradford Towle Jr. October 2017. Investigating the Feasibility of using a Microsoft HoloLens as a Robotic Sensor and Odometry Source. 26th Proc. of the Inter. Conf. on Software Engineering and Data Engineering.
PhD - University of Central Florida (2025)
PhD Chairs: Dr. Annie Wu and Dr. Ryan McMahan
Dissertation name: Effects of Environmental and Camera Properties on Simultaneous Localization and Mapping
MS - University of Central Florida (2022)
BS - Florida Polytechnic University (2019)
Research and Background
While my background largely is composed of HCI topics such as Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, and Augmented
Reality, I have a diversified set of skills in tackling multiple problems such as complex systems in
robotics, computer vision, and machine learning integration.
Projects
- This website. (2020-> ? - HTML5/JS )
- CLOVR (Collecting and Logging OpenVR) (2024 - Unity/ SteamVR)
- RecolorCloud point cloud editor plugin suite (2023 - Python)
- FinalCloud point cloud editing and recolorer tool (2022 - Unity/Python )
- Mixed reality project - Gesture recording studio (2021 - Unity/Python)
- Neural network for comparing genetic algorithms in imputed data (2021 - Python)
- Immersive final demo for VR class (2020 - Unity)
- Full time job (2020 - Java/JS/SQL Full Stack Dev.)
- Forked DeepGRU to apply in a bioinfromatics project (2020 - Python)
- Multi-agent task specialization simulation for NSF (2020 - C)
- Android app for recording haptic interaction with app (2019 - Android Unity)
- Drivers for Manus VR using SDK (2018 - ROS/In-house Robotic Framework)
- Drivers and Simulator for Pioneer Robot and Linux Setup (2017 - Unity/ROS)
Teaching
- Graduate Teacher Assistant COP3223C: Intro to Programming (2024 - 2025)
- Camp Connect at UCF Visualizing Point Clouds - UCF (2022)
- Graduate Teacher Assistant COP3223C Intro to Programming W/C- UCF (2021)
- Graduate Teacher Assistant CNT4714 Enterprise Computing- UCF (2020)
- Graduate Teacher Grader CGS2545C-01 Database Systems- UCF (2019)
- Undergraduate Teacher Assistant Physics, Chemistry, Calculus - Florida Polytechnic University (2017 - 2019)
Contact Information
- UCF Email - esteban.segarra (@) ucf.edu
- LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/esteban-segarra-m/
Hobbies and Other Misc.
Aside from general work involving my research and studies I also do side hobbies such as gaming, 3D modeling,
AI art, and other art forms. Generally I tend to keep my art separate from my work, however there are multiple
times where my work crosses over to the other from time to time. I also attempt whenever there are spare resources
and time to try to learn new concepts in application of software and hardware.
