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About

Jason Carlton is a leading roboticist whose work bridges the gap between autonomous manipulation and extreme-environment exploration. His key research areas include semi-autonomous mobile manipulation, in-space robotic assembly, and robotic systems for ocean-world bodies. Carlton’s major contributions center on advancing robots that can operate in unstructured, high-stakes settings. He was a core member of Team RoboSimian, which secured 5th place at the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals—a feat detailed in his most-cited paper (86 citations), where he helped develop an adaptable architecture for disaster-response robots. He also pioneered payload-centric autonomy for constructing large modular space structures, a concept with 29 citations that tackles the challenge of building kilometer-scale habitats in orbit. More recently, his work on robotic mobility and sampling systems for ocean-world bodies (e.g., Europa) has opened new frontiers for astrobiology. With over 120 total citations, Carlton’s research has shaped how robots perceive, plan, and act in domains ranging from collapsed buildings to the vacuum of space, making him a key figure in field and space robotics.