Alexander Kleiner

About

Alexander Kleiner is a prominent robotics researcher whose work spans autonomous systems, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), multi-robot coordination, and disaster robotics. His foundational contributions to SLAM evaluation have proved particularly influential — his 2009 papers on measuring SLAM accuracy and benchmarking SLAM algorithms using graph-based metrics have together accumulated nearly 460 citations, establishing community standards for objectively comparing navigation approaches that remain widely used today. Kleiner's multi-robot coordination research has been equally impactful. His early work with CS Freiburg produced a championship-winning RoboCup soccer team (1998, 2000, 2001), demonstrating sophisticated multi-agent collaboration in dynamic environments. This expertise extended naturally into disaster robotics, where he has contributed to urban search and rescue systems, heterogeneous robot teams, and the European SHERPA project integrating ground and aerial robots for alpine rescue operations. His 2016 book-level treatment of disaster robotics synthesizes much of this applied focus. Kleiner has also advanced 3D autonomous exploration and RFID-assisted navigation for search and rescue scenarios. With over 1,500 cumulative citations across his most recognized works, his research consistently bridges theoretical rigor with real-world humanitarian applications, making him a defining voice in applied autonomous robotics.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   On measuring the accuracy of SLAM algorithms

   333 citations · 2009
2. 2
   Prioritized Planning Algorithms for Trajectory Coordination of Multiple Mobile Robots

   224 citations · 2015
3. 3
   CS Freiburg: coordinating robots for successful soccer playing

   132 citations · 2002
4. 4
   Large scale graph-based SLAM using aerial images as prior information

   130 citations · 2010
5. 5
   The SHERPA project: Smart collaboration between humans and ground-aerial robots for improving rescuing activities in alpine environments

   129 citations · 2012
6. 6
   Disaster Robotics

   126 citations · 2016
7. 7
   A comparison of SLAM algorithms based on a graph of relations

   124 citations · 2009
8. 8
   A frontier-void-based approach for autonomous exploration in 3D

   119 citations · 2013
9. 9
   Towards heterogeneous robot teams for disaster mitigation: Results and performance metrics from RoboCup rescue

   102 citations · 2007
10. 10
    RFID Technology-based Exploration and SLAM for Search And Rescue

    99 citations · 2006

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links