Sebastian G. Brunner

About

Sebastian G. Brunner is a robotics researcher whose work sits at the intersection of autonomous systems, planetary exploration, and multi-robot collaboration. His research focuses on developing intelligent robotic platforms capable of operating independently in remote, communication-delayed environments such as the Moon and Mars — conditions that make traditional teleoperation impractical or impossible. Brunner's most influential contribution is his involvement in the ARCHES demonstration mission (98 citations), which advanced the concept of heterogeneous robot teams working collaboratively to conduct scientific sampling on planetary surfaces. His earlier paper "Towards Autonomous Planetary Exploration" (88 citations) laid important conceptual groundwork for designing robotic systems that overcome the significant challenges of extraterrestrial operation. Complementing this, his development of RAFCON (61 citations), a graphical programming tool for orchestrating complex robotic tasks, has provided the broader robotics community with a practical framework for managing mission-critical autonomy. His work on the LRU rover prototype and contributions to the ROBEX analogue mission on Mount Etna further demonstrate his commitment to translating theoretical advances into real-world field demonstrations. With over 360 cumulative citations, Brunner has established himself as a meaningful contributor to the growing field of space robotics, helping pave the way for the next generation of planetary exploration missions.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   The ARCHES Space-Analogue Demonstration Mission: Towards Heterogeneous Teams of Autonomous Robots for Collaborative Scientific Sampling in Planetary Exploration

   98 citations · 2020
2. 2
   Towards Autonomous Planetary Exploration

   88 citations · 2017
3. 3
   RAFCON: A graphical tool for engineering complex, robotic tasks

   61 citations · 2016
4. 4
   Mobile manipulation for planetary exploration

   32 citations · 2018
5. 5
   First Results of the ROBEX Analogue Mission Campaign: Robotic Deployment of Seismic Networks for Future Lunar Missions

   25 citations · 2017
6. 6
   The LRU Rover for Autonomous Planetary Exploration and Its Success in the SpaceBotCamp Challenge

   23 citations · 2016
7. 7
   From single autonomous robots toward cooperative robotic interactions for future planetary exploration missions

   18 citations · 2018
8. 8
   Autonomous Parallelization of Resource-Aware Robotic Task Nodes

   7 citations · 2019
9. 9
   Design, Execution, and Postmortem Analysis of Prolonged Autonomous Robot Operations

   7 citations · 2018
10. 10
    Towards Heterogeneous Robotic Teams for Collaborative Scientific Sampling in Lunar and Planetary Environments

    5 citations · 2019

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links