Papers
12
Total Citations
939
H-Index
10
About
Justin Thomas is a pioneering roboticist whose research centers on autonomous aerial systems, multi-robot coordination, and bio-inspired manipulation. His work has fundamentally advanced the capability of micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) to operate in GPS-denied environments and interact physically with the world. Thomas’s most impactful contribution is the development of perception, control, and trajectory planning algorithms that enable UAVs to autonomously land on moving vehicles—a feat demonstrated in his 2019 paper (158 citations). He also pioneered avian-inspired grasping for quadrotors (117 citations), allowing them to perch on and grasp objects mid-flight, and developed visual servoing techniques for perching on cylindrical structures (109 citations). His work on cooperative multi-UAV systems (154 citations) has enabled teams of drones to search, grasp, and deliver objects autonomously. With over 900 total citations across his top papers, Thomas’s research has direct applications in search-and-rescue, infrastructure inspection, and nuclear decommissioning—as shown in his recent work on fuel debris retrieval at Fukushima Daiichi. His achievements include leading the development of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics software technology for DARPA, demonstrating his versatility in advancing both aerial robotics and human-assistive technologies.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Autonomous landing on a moving vehicle with an unmanned aerial vehicle158 citations · 2019
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- 3Toward autonomous avian-inspired grasping for micro aerial vehicles117 citations · 2014
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- 6Visual Servoing of Quadrotors for Perching by Hanging From Cylindrical Objects109 citations · 2015
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- 8Cooperative localization and mapping of MAVs using RGB-D sensors64 citations · 2015
- 9Revolutionizing Prosthetics software technology27 citations · 2011
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