Carlos Nieto-Granda

About

Carlos Nieto-Granda is a robotics researcher whose work spans multi-robot systems, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), semantic mapping, and safe autonomous navigation. His research addresses some of the most pressing challenges in deploying robot teams in real-world environments, particularly under constraints of limited communication bandwidth and perceptual uncertainty. Nieto-Granda's most influential contribution is his work on Kimera-Multi, a robust distributed dense metric-semantic SLAM system for multi-robot teams, which has accumulated over 237 citations since 2022 and represents a landmark achievement in scalable, real-world-ready multi-robot perception. His earlier foundational work on coordination strategies for multi-robot exploration and mapping (74 citations) and dynamic Voronoi partitioning for adaptive environmental sampling (65 citations) established him as a key figure in multi-agent coordination. His semantic mapping research, including indoor environment partitioning and object-based SLAM, demonstrated how contextual understanding can meaningfully enhance robot autonomy. More recently, Nieto-Granda has advanced distributed safe navigation using control barrier functions, reflecting a growing focus on provably safe multi-agent systems. Across his career, his research has consistently bridged theoretical rigor with practical deployment, making him a valuable voice for students and researchers working at the intersection of robotics, perception, and autonomous systems.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Kimera-Multi: Robust, Distributed, Dense Metric-Semantic SLAM for Multi-Robot Systems

   237 citations · 2022
2. 2
   Coordination strategies for multi-robot exploration and mapping

   74 citations · 2014
3. 3
   Multi-robot coordination through dynamic Voronoi partitioning for informative adaptive sampling in communication-constrained environments

   65 citations · 2017
4. 4
   Semantic map partitioning in indoor environments using regional analysis

   60 citations · 2010
5. 5
   Simultaneous localization and mapping with learned object recognition and semantic data association

   39 citations · 2011
6. 6
   Distributed Safe Navigation of Multi-Agent Systems Using Control Barrier Function-Based Controllers

   33 citations · 2024
7. 7
   Resilient and Distributed Multi-Robot Visual SLAM: Datasets, Experiments, and Lessons Learned

   30 citations · 2023
8. 8
   Coordination Strategies for Multi-robot Exploration and Mapping

   29 citations · 2013
9. 9
   Tables, Counters, and Shelves: Semantic Mapping of Surfaces in 3D

   13 citations · 2010
10. 10
    Effects of Sensory Precision on Mobile Robot Localization and Mapping

    12 citations · 2013

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links