L. Paul Chew

Papers

Total Citations

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About

L. Paul Chew is a foundational figure in computational geometry and robotics, best known for his pioneering work on motion planning and shortest-path algorithms. His seminal 1985 paper, "Planning the shortest path for a disc in O(n² log n) time," introduced a landmark algorithm that efficiently computes collision-free paths for a disc-shaped robot among polygonal obstacles—a problem central to autonomous navigation. With 30 citations, this work laid the theoretical groundwork for decades of research in robot motion planning and geometric optimization. Chew also contributed to mobile robotics and spatial reasoning, as seen in his 1992 paper on "Map-making and Localization for Mobile Robots using Shape Metrics," which explored how robots can build environmental representations for self-localization and navigation. Beyond these papers, Chew is widely recognized for his contributions to Voronoi diagrams, Delaunay triangulations, and mesh generation—tools that underpin modern computational geometry. His research has had lasting impact across computer science, robotics, and geographic information systems, making him a key figure for students and researchers interested in the intersection of geometry, algorithms, and autonomous systems.