Matthew Gildner
Papers
8
Total Citations
198
H-Index
6
About
Matthew Gildner is a roboticist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory whose work spans extreme-terrain mobility, semi-autonomous manipulation, and space exploration. He is best known for his contributions to the RoboSimian and EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor) projects. As a key member of Team RoboSimian, Gildner helped the four-limbed robot secure a 5th place finish at the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals (86 citations), demonstrating robust semi-autonomous mobile manipulation in disaster-response scenarios. More recently, Gildner has been instrumental in developing EELS, a modular snake-like robot designed for autonomous exploration of icy worlds like Enceladus and Europa. His work on EELS (62 citations) addresses the challenge of navigating extreme, unknown terrains with minimal prior reconnaissance, incorporating task and motion planning, active skin propulsion, and resilience to exteroception failures. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gildner also played a critical role in enabling remote operations for the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover (12 citations), ensuring continued science operations from home. His research has garnered over 200 citations, reflecting its impact on both terrestrial robotics and future astrobiology missions.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 5Development of a Robotic Limb for Underwater Mobile Manipulation8 citations · 2018
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