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About

Thomas Wright is a leading researcher at the intersection of robotics and nuclear safety, specializing in autonomous systems for hazardous environment exploration. His primary research areas include radiation-informed navigation, robotic inspection, and simulation for nuclear decommissioning. Wright's major contributions center on developing intelligent mobile robots capable of autonomously navigating unknown environments contaminated with ionising radiation, such as those found at Fukushima Daiichi and Sellafield. His most impactful work, "Robotic Exploration of an Unknown Nuclear Environment Using Radiation Informed Autonomous Navigation" (52 citations), introduces a novel ground vehicle that avoids radiation exposure while mapping its surroundings. Complementing this, his paper on simulating ionising radiation in Gazebo (44 citations) provides essential tools for testing robotic systems in realistic nuclear scenarios, addressing a critical barrier to industry adoption. Wright also pioneered real-time radiation avoidance using layered costmaps (21 citations) and advanced 3D environmental understanding through fast mesh generation. His notable achievements include developing mixed reality approaches for remote inspection and creating RoboSim, a diagrammatic modeling language for robotic simulation. With over 140 total citations, Wright's work is instrumental in reducing human risk in nuclear environments, making him a key figure in the push toward autonomous, radiation-safe robotic operations.