Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Gregg Podnar is a robotics researcher whose career spans three decades of pioneering work in autonomous systems, remote inspection, and multi-robot architectures. Based at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, Podnar has made foundational contributions in two primary domains: robotic nondestructive inspection of aircraft and telesupervised autonomous robot fleets for exploration and environmental monitoring. In the late 1990s, Podnar helped develop ANDI and CIMP — robotic platforms designed to automate aircraft surface inspection — alongside sophisticated image understanding algorithms for remote visual detection of structural defects, work that collectively earned over 90 citations and helped establish the viability of robotic inspection as an alternative to manual methods. His research then expanded dramatically in scope, addressing NASA's Vision for Space Exploration through multi-robot telesupervision architectures that enable human operators to safely oversee fleets of autonomous robots on the Moon and Mars, garnering over 50 citations across several publications. Podnar also led development of autonomous Robot Sensor Boats and the MARTA and TAOSF architectures for freshwater and oceanic environmental monitoring, demonstrating the versatility of his telesupervision frameworks across radically different domains. His body of work reflects a consistent vision: keeping humans safely in the loop while maximizing robotic autonomy and efficiency.