Nobuhiro Funabiki
Papers
5
Total Citations
381
H-Index
4
About
Nobuhiro Funabiki is a robotics researcher whose work centers on autonomous navigation, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and multi-robot systems operating in extreme and perceptually degraded environments. His most influential contributions have emerged through his involvement with TEAM CoSTAR, the collaborative robotics group that competed in — and ultimately won — Phase II of the prestigious DARPA Subterranean Challenge, a landmark competition pushing the frontiers of robotic exploration in underground environments such as tunnels, caves, and urban underground structures. Funabiki's most-cited work, the LAMP framework (180 citations), addresses one of robotics' hardest problems: reliable large-scale mapping and positioning when sensors are compromised by dust, darkness, and featureless terrain. His contributions to the NeBula autonomy architecture (105 and 51 citations respectively) helped define a comprehensive software and hardware solution enabling robots to collaboratively explore unknown subterranean spaces with minimal human intervention. His research on range-aided SLAM using deployable ranging beacons (43 citations) further demonstrates his practical ingenuity in tackling drift and loop-closure challenges at scale. Together, these contributions mark Funabiki as a meaningful voice in advancing robust, real-world robotic autonomy for some of the most demanding exploration scenarios imaginable.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5