The Don Quixote of La Mancha who fights against the technological giants of Silicon Valley

Alonso Marco Valle, originally from Villanueva de los Infantes (Ciudad Real) and who studied industrial engineering at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, is our Don Quixote – whose name he even shares – who recently embarked on his exciting American adventure. He came to the United States with a four-month stay at Facebook in California, then did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Berkeley in San Francisco, thanks to a grant from the Rafael del Pino Foundation, specializing in humanoid robotics. .

Now this JASP engineer (young, although well prepared) He has been working since January 2024 in one of the most important companies in the sector in Silicon Valley, such as Figure AI.. There he developed algorithms that automate robot production processes with integrated ChatGPT technology, reducing times from hours to just minutes, which led him to carve out a place in this company that counts among its ranks another giant. clients: the German car manufacturer BMW, so that its machines can carry out tasks that are tedious for humans.

“In just two and a half years, our humanoid robots have broken some of the existing barriers to autonomy and manipulation. For example, we got them to walk independently and manipulate objects they had never seen before, based on human demonstrations. We are the leader in terms of autonomy and handling thanks to the use of Large Language Models (LLM) and Vision and Language Models (VLM). Additionally, they can converse with anyone and perform specific tasks, such as organizing items in a closet, moving around the office independently, greeting arriving visitors and bringing them a snack from the kitchen,” says proudly Alonso.

However, achieving this was not easy. “Working in robotics is intense, but very rewarding. The change in my life has been drastic and unexpected and, at the same time, very positive”, as he admits on ABC. “I come from a town of about 5,000 people – which I don’t want to remember the name – and there as in Ciudad Real, where I studied, life was slower, more relaxed and more pleasant than in San Francisco, a big city where everything is racing, but at the same time it’s a lot more exciting and fun,” he says.

“For the majority of Manchas who studied with me, the United States was perceived as an unthinkable, practically inaccessible destination, reserved for students from wealthy families and with a good level of English. Silicon Valley rarely came up in conversation,” recalls Alonso, who After four years on the UCLM university campus in Ciudad Real, he left with an Erasmus scholarship in Germany to study master’s degrees at the Technical University of Darmstadt.where he had his first approach to robotics.

After other internships between Barcelona and Germany, he once again reached the Olympus of new computer technologies. “Sometimes I have the impression that my life has been like several lives strung together in a small space of time,” says this engineer, who emphasizes that doors have opened before him that he would never have imagined opening. His secret, as he indicates, is none other than “hard work” or, as he himself emphasizes, quoting the Professor at Stanford University, Andrew Huberman: “The key to success is not to focus on achieving your goals, but to focus on the path that leads to them.”

A different life

Alonso’s day starts early, with a strong coffee to get him through the day, a notes app on his laptop, and views of the city from his apartment in East Cut, near the docks and the Bay Bridge which connects San Francisco to Oakland and Berkeley. This calm of home changes as soon as he sets foot on the street to go to his workplace at Figure AI. “Silicon Valley – he emphasizes – is learning to work faster, more intensely and more efficiently.” In the afternoon he has time to go to the gym and usually meet someone for dinner or drinks before the warrior’s break for the next daily battle.

He still has free time, because this young man from Ciudad Real loves salsa, he doesn’t eat it but he dances and plays with his group, which he does often and on weekends. This is how his life unfolded in the United States, where he became aware of the differences of this country, not only on the cultural, social and political level, but above all on the economic level because, as he assures, “America’s adventure is just “It makes sense with a good salary and good health coverage subsidized by your company.” Specifically, In San Francisco and its surrounding areas, he says the standard of living is two to three times more expensive than in Spain. and it is not difficult to see many homeless people on the streets. “Here you need at least 5,000 euros per month to live without too many problems and good private health insurance can cost more than 700 euros per month. Without these conditions, Europe is a much better place to live,” he says.

However, it highlights other positive values ​​of the United States, such as its ethnic and cultural diversity. “It is a country of immigrants, without an official language, where ideas and mentalities from all over the world converge, which makes life more interesting in many ways. However, now that Donald Trump has just won the election, those of us who immigrate need to be aware of possible legislative changes that affect us. I’m not worried about my visa, but we have to be careful,” concludes Alonso, who hopes to stay there for a long time to continue feeling fulfilled in his work, but he will always keep his homeland of La Mancha: “The United States- United wins in terms of opportunities and growth possibilities, but in olive oil, cheese, wine and guitar, we will always win. »