Rafael Pous

About

Rafael Pous is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, autonomous robotics, and smart retail systems. His work has fundamentally advanced how modern retailers achieve real-time inventory visibility and supply chain transparency at the item level. Most notably, Pous has championed the development of RFID-equipped autonomous robots capable of scanning, locating, and tracking products throughout physical store environments — a body of work spanning from early conceptual frameworks like STORE VIEW (2013) to sophisticated digital twin implementations (2023). His most cited contribution, "Stock visibility for retail using an RFID robot" (2019, 59 citations), exemplifies his core mission: merging AutoID and robotics to deliver high-resolution, actionable inventory data. Subsequent work has expanded this vision to include multi-robot stigmergic algorithms, ROS-based simulation environments for RFID systems, and standardized performance metrics for evaluating robotic inventory systems. His development of AdvanRobot marked a tangible milestone in translating research into deployable retail technology. With over 170 cumulative citations, Pous has established himself as a leading voice in Industry 4.0 retail automation, offering researchers and practitioners alike a coherent roadmap for intelligent, robot-driven store management.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Stock visibility for retail using an RFID robot

   59 citations · 2019
2. 2
   Projection of RFID-Obtained Product Information on a Retail Stores Indoor Panoramas

   30 citations · 2015
3. 3
   A Simple Solution to Locate Groups of Items in Large Retail Stores Using an RFID Robot

   19 citations · 2021
4. 4
   Development of an RFID Inventory Robot (AdvanRobot)

   17 citations · 2017
5. 5
   Autonomous stock counting based on a stigmergic algorithm for multi-robot systems

   14 citations · 2020
6. 6
   STORE VIEW

   9 citations · 2013
7. 7
   A ROS Gazebo Plugin Design to Simulate RFID Systems

   7 citations · 2022
8. 8
   Showing products in a retail store digital twin with item location captured by an RFID robot

   6 citations · 2023
9. 9
   A Metric for Assessing, Comparing, and Predicting the Performance of Autonomous RFID-Based Inventory Robots for Retail

   5 citations · 2021
10. 10
    A ROS-based distributed multi-robot localization and orientation strategy for heterogeneous robots

    5 citations · 2023

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links