Takashi Tsubouchi

About

Takashi Tsubouchi is a pioneering researcher in mobile robotics whose work spans autonomous navigation, environmental mapping, and robot motion planning. Best known for his landmark 2006 paper on 3D scan matching using an improved Normal Distributions Transform (NDT)—now cited over 200 times—Tsubouchi made foundational contributions to how mobile robots perceive and map complex three-dimensional environments, a capability central to modern autonomous systems. His research has consistently addressed the challenge of operating robots in real-world, unstructured settings: from GPS-odometry fusion for campus outdoor navigation to autonomous traversal of busy pedestrian walkways populated with people and cyclists. His work on people tracking from a moving robot using laser range finders further demonstrates his focus on human-robot coexistence in dynamic environments. Beyond navigation, Tsubouchi has explored rescue robotics, heavy machinery automation using genetic algorithms, and forest mapping for environmental management—reflecting impressive breadth across applied robotics. His 1994 and 1996 contributions to motion planning among moving obstacles helped lay conceptual groundwork for a field that remains highly active today. Collectively, his publications have accumulated hundreds of citations, establishing him as an influential and versatile voice in the robotics research community.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   A 3-D Scan Matching using Improved 3-D Normal Distributions Transform for Mobile Robotic Mapping

   205 citations · 2006
2. 2
   Differential GPS and odometry-based outdoor navigation of a mobile robot

   94 citations · 2004
3. 3
   Autonomous robot navigation in outdoor cluttered pedestrian walkways

   90 citations · 2009
4. 4
   People Tracking Using a Robot in Motion with Laser Range Finder

   83 citations · 2006
5. 5
   Path planning of wheel loader type robot for scooping and loading operation by genetic algorithm

   24 citations · 2013
6. 6
   Motion Planning for Mobile Robots in a Time-Varying Environment: A Survey

   24 citations · 1996
7. 7
   Planning and navigation by a mobile robot in the presence of multiple moving obstacles and their velocities.

   22 citations · 1994
8. 8
   Principle of Orthogonalization for Hybrid Control of Robot Manipulators

   22 citations · 1993
9. 9
   Controlled balance losing in random step environment for path planning of a teleoperated crawler‐type vehicle

   21 citations · 2011
10. 10
    Forest 3D Mapping and Tree Sizes Measurement for Forest Management Based on Sensing Technology for Mobile Robots

    20 citations · 2013

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links