Clinton Plaisted

Kennedy Space Center, Lockheed Martin (United States)

Papers

Total Citations

180

H-Index

About

Clinton Plaisted is a leading figure in mobile robotics and nonlinear control theory, best known for his pioneering work on collision-free navigation in dynamic environments. His most influential contribution, the 2004 paper "A New Analytical Solution to Mobile Robot Trajectory Generation in the Presence of Moving Obstacles," has garnered 176 citations and remains a cornerstone in the field. In this work, Plaisted derived a closed-form solution for feasible trajectories and steering controls by explicitly incorporating the robot's kinematic model—a breakthrough that enables real-time path planning amid moving obstacles without iterative computation. He further advanced the state of the art with his 2005 study on near-optimal control for nonholonomic chained systems, offering a computationally efficient alternative to traditional two-point-boundary-value problems. This work provides a globally stabilizing, real-time tracking controller that bypasses numerical iteration, making it highly practical for autonomous systems. Plaisted's research bridges theoretical rigor and real-world applicability, profoundly impacting autonomous vehicle navigation, robotics, and intelligent transportation systems. His analytical approach continues to inspire new generations of researchers seeking elegant solutions to complex motion planning challenges.