A STEAM academy with scientific proof
17 Scopus-indexed publications in robotics, AI, education and applied innovation. Many are co-authored by our students, and in 2026 one of them presented his paper at IEEE CONESCAPAN at just 13 years old.
Alongside the country's universities
In 2025 El Salvador published 312 Scopus-indexed documents. STEAM Robotics Academy contributed 11 and ranked fifth nationally, among universities and research centers with decades of history.
Our methodology, peer-reviewed
“Innovative Methodological Approaches in STEAM Education: STEAM Robotics Academy, a Case of Success”
IEEE LAEDC 2024. The way we teach was documented, peer-reviewed and presented at an international IEEE conference.
Source: Scopus, as of August 18, 2026.
Academy publications
A selection of work by STEAM Robotics Academy students and faculty.
- 2026Presented
Design and Evaluation of an Autonomous Robotic System for Cleaning Floating Solid Waste in Lakes
Orellana M.; Orellana E.; Sosa G.; Orellana S.; Vásquez-Pineda B.; Cardona M. · IEEE CONESCAPAN 2026, Costa Rica
- 2026Presented
ZenIA-Emotion: An Edge AI Framework for Real-Time Emotion Recognition in Elderly Healthcare Assistance
Guevara A.; López I.; Chávez F.; Vásquez-Pineda B.; Cardona M. · IEEE CONESCAPAN 2026, Costa Rica
- 2026Presented
Prompt Injection Attacks on LLM-Driven Educational Robots: Threat Modeling and Defense Framework for Classroom Environments
Benítez Rivera M. A.; Martínez-Salazar N.; Serrano J.; Torres R.; Vásquez-Pineda B.; Cardona M. · IEEE CONESCAPAN 2026, Costa Rica
- 2026Accepted
A Modular Open-Source Robotics Toolkit with Integrated AI Modules to Enhance Computational Thinking in K-12 STEM Education
Pineda A.; Vásquez-Pineda B.; Cardona M.; Pocasangre Jiménez C. O. · IEEE CONCAPAN 2026
- 2025
ZenIA: An Artificial Intelligence-Based Robotic System for Elderly Healthcare Assistance
Guevara A.; López I.; Chávez F.; Vásquez-Pineda B.; Cardona M. · IEEE ICMLANT 2025
- 2025
Harnessing Large Language Model Applications in Smart Manufacturing
IEEE LAEDC 2025
- 2025
Low-cost Edge Gateway Architecture for IIoT Interoperability in Industry
Miranda D.; Cardona M.; Vásquez-Pineda B.; Solanki V. K. · IEEE ICMLANT 2025
- 2024
Eco Buddy: A Novel Robotic Platform for Automatic Waste Classification using Computer Vision and IoT
Guevara A.; López I.; Chávez F.; Cardona M.; Aldana-Aguilar J.; Marroquín I. · RICE 2024, India
- 2024
Innovative Methodological Approaches in STEAM Education: STEAM Robotics Academy, a Case of Success
Cardona M.; Cáceres C.; Cáceres A.; Martínez H. · IEEE LAEDC 2024
- 2024
Artificial Intelligence for All: Challenges and Harnessing Opportunities in AI Democratization
Castro K. A.; Siwady J. A.; Castillo E.; Alonzo A.; Cardona M.; Perdomo M. E. · IEEE ICMLANT 2024
- 2024
Harnessing Artificial Intelligence in Education: Innovations, Opportunities, and Challenges
Cardona M.; Cáceres C.; Cáceres A.; Aldana-Aguilar J. · IEEE CONCAPAN 2024
Dr. Manuel Cardona
El Salvador's first PhD in Automation and Robotics, Cum Laude from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Strategic advisor to the National Artificial Intelligence Agency (ANIA).
- Scopus-indexed publicationsNo. 1 in El Salvador
- +180
- Edited booksSpringer, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis
- 9
- Invited lecturesAmericas, Europe and Asia
- +450
- JCR journals he reviews for
- +15