J.-P. Laumond

About

Jean-Paul Laumond is a pioneering figure in robotics, whose work has profoundly shaped the field of motion planning and control for nonholonomic systems. Best known for his foundational text *Robot Motion Planning and Control* (1998), which has garnered over 830 citations, Laumond has built a distinguished career at the intersection of mathematical control theory and practical robotics engineering. His research centers on the challenges of planning and controlling robots subject to nonholonomic constraints — systems like wheeled mobile robots and car-trailer configurations that cannot move freely in all directions. Laumond made significant contributions through his sustained investigation of car-like robots towing trailers, developing innovative steering methods using sinusoids, robust feedback controllers, and nilpotent approximation techniques to tackle the inherent complexity of these systems. His work on the mobile robot Hilare demonstrated how rigorous mathematical theory could be integrated into real-world robotic architectures. He further extended his influence into manipulation planning and probabilistic motion planning techniques relevant to product lifecycle management. Across his career, Laumond has exemplified how deep theoretical insight — particularly regarding controllability and trajectory stabilization — can be translated into practical tools that continue to guide researchers and engineers working in autonomous robotics today.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Robot Motion Planning and Control

   832 citations · 1998
2. 2
   Motion planning and control for Hilare pulling a trailer

   122 citations · 1999
3. 3
   Steering car-like systems with trailers using sinusoids

   81 citations · 2003
4. 4
   A practical approach to feedback control for a mobile robot with trailer

   52 citations · 2002
5. 5
   Stabilization of trajectories for systems with nonholonomic constraints

   50 citations · 2003
6. 6
   A manipulation planner for pick and place operations under continuous grasps and placements

   43 citations · 2003
7. 7
   Canonical nilpotent approximation of control systems: application to nonholonomic motion planning

   32 citations · 2002
8. 8
   Motion planning for PLM: state of the art and perspectives

   10 citations · 2006
9. 9
   Computing good holonomic collision-free paths to steer nonholonomic mobile robots

   7 citations · 2002
10. 10
    Obstacle distances and visibility for car-like robots moving forward

    2 citations · 1998

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links