Keith Kotay

About

Keith Kotay is a pioneering roboticist whose career has centered on the design, control, and algorithmic foundations of self-reconfiguring modular robots — systems capable of autonomously changing their physical structure to adapt to different tasks and environments. His most influential contribution is the development of the "Molecule," a robotic module introduced in the late 1990s that demonstrated how collections of simple units could aggregate and reconfigure to support multiple locomotion and manipulation modes, earning over 240 citations for its foundational 2002 treatment. Kotay's work spans both hardware innovation and algorithmic theory: his research on generic decentralized control for lattice-based systems (totaling over 225 citations across related papers) established reusable frameworks applicable beyond any single robot platform, a significant conceptual leap for the field. His Miche project (149 citations) showcased elegant self-disassembly algorithms, while the Inchworm robot demonstrated practical multi-functional navigation across complex three-dimensional steel structures. Kotay also extended modular robotics concepts into underwater environments through the AMOUR prototype. Collectively accumulating nearly 1,100 citations, his body of work has helped transform self-reconfiguring robotics from a theoretical curiosity into a rigorous, hardware-grounded discipline.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   The self-reconfiguring robotic molecule

   241 citations · 2002
2. 2
   Miche: Modular Shape Formation by Self-Disassembly

   149 citations · 2008
3. 3
   Generic Decentralized Control for Lattice-Based Self-Reconfigurable Robots

   124 citations · 2004
4. 4
   Self-reconfiguring robots

   103 citations · 2002
5. 5
   Locomotion versatility through self-reconfiguration

   103 citations · 1999
6. 6
   Generic decentralized control for a class of self-reconfigurable robots

   103 citations · 2003
7. 7
   Algorithms for self-reconfiguring molecule motion planning

   77 citations · 2002
8. 8
   The Inchworm Robot: A Multi-Functional System

   74 citations · 2000
9. 9
   Navigating 3D steel web structures with an inchworm robot

   61 citations · 2002
10. 10
    Autonomous Modular Optical Underwater Robot (AMOUR) Design, Prototype and Feasibility Study

    54 citations · 2006

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links