Stephen Kuhn

Papers

Total Citations

113

H-Index

About

Stephen Kuhn is a pioneering roboticist whose work is literally reshaping how we explore other worlds. His primary research focuses on autonomous robotics and robotic operations for planetary exploration, with a career-defining impact on NASA’s Mars rover missions. Kuhn’s most significant contribution is his leadership in developing and deploying the self-driving autonomous navigation system (AutoNav) for the Perseverance rover. As detailed in his highly cited 2023 paper (106 citations), this system enabled the rover to autonomously evaluate 88% of its 17.7-kilometer traverse during its first Martian year—a quantum leap in off-world mobility. His influence extends to the mission’s broader robotic operations, including the Ingenuity helicopter’s flights and the complex sampling chain, as documented in his 2025 work. Earlier, Kuhn tackled the challenge of refactoring the Curiosity rover’s sample handling architecture (2019), solving a critical bottleneck in end-to-end sampling operations. With a citation count exceeding 110, Kuhn is a key figure in space robotics, demonstrating that autonomous systems are not just tools but essential partners in pushing the boundaries of human exploration.