David Hsu

About

David Hsu is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work has fundamentally shaped the fields of motion planning, decision-making under uncertainty, and autonomous systems. Based at the National University of Singapore, Hsu has made landmark contributions to probabilistic robotics, with his research spanning randomized motion planning, partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs), and autonomous driving. His early work on expansive configuration spaces and randomized kinodynamic motion planning (each accumulating over 500–768 citations) established theoretical foundations that transformed how robots navigate complex, dynamic environments. His 2008 SARSOP algorithm (782 citations) became a landmark contribution to POMDP planning, making previously intractable probabilistic decision-making computationally feasible for real-world robotics applications. Hsu's research has evolved ambitiously toward human-robot interaction and autonomous driving, addressing how vehicles and robots can reason about human intentions amid uncertainty. His intention-aware planning frameworks for autonomous driving among pedestrians (331 citations) and the PORCA motion prediction model reflect his commitment to safe, real-world deployment of autonomous systems. His work on human-robot mutual adaptation further demonstrates his holistic vision of collaborative intelligence. With over 3,800 combined citations across his most influential papers, Hsu's contributions continue to inspire a generation of robotics researchers worldwide.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   SARSOP: Efficient Point-Based POMDP Planning by Approximating Optimally Reachable Belief Spaces

   782 citations · 2008
2. 2
   Randomized Kinodynamic Motion Planning with Moving Obstacles

   768 citations · 2002
3. 3
   Path planning in expansive configuration spaces

   546 citations · 2002
4. 4
   The bridge test for sampling narrow passages with probabilistic roadmap planners

   358 citations · 2004
5. 5
   Intention-aware online POMDP planning for autonomous driving in a crowd

   331 citations · 2015
6. 6
   PATH PLANNING IN EXPANSIVE CONFIGURATION SPACES

   264 citations · 1999
7. 7
   Planning under Uncertainty for Robotic Tasks with Mixed Observability

   238 citations · 2010
8. 8
   PORCA: Modeling and Planning for Autonomous Driving Among Many Pedestrians

   207 citations · 2018
9. 9
   Human-robot mutual adaptation in collaborative tasks: Models and experiments

   191 citations · 2017
10. 10
    Intention-Aware Motion Planning

    189 citations · 2013

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links