Papers
360
Total Citations
25,000
H-Index
84
About
Vijay Kumar is a pioneering roboticist whose work has fundamentally shaped the fields of multi-robot systems, aerial robotics, and swarm intelligence. Based at the University of Pennsylvania, Kumar has made transformative contributions to how autonomous robots perceive, coordinate, and navigate complex environments. His early research established rigorous mathematical frameworks for multi-robot formation control, using graph theory and feedback linearization to enable teams of nonholonomic mobile robots to maintain and adapt formations dynamically — work that has collectively garnered over 3,000 citations. Kumar subsequently turned his attention to micro aerial vehicles, producing landmark research on quadrotor trajectory generation and aggressive maneuvering that redefined expectations for aerial agility, earning nearly 900 citations alone. His investigations into cooperative grasping, payload transport, and safe 3D flight planning further demonstrated that aerial robots could perform sophisticated physical tasks in cluttered environments. A comprehensive survey on aerial swarm robotics, cited over 630 times, reflects his broad influence on an entire research community. Across more than two decades, Kumar's work has bridged theoretical rigor with real-world applicability, inspiring generations of researchers pursuing autonomous, collaborative robotic systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Modeling and control of formations of nonholonomic mobile robots1,155 citations · 2001
- 2A vision-based formation control framework1,151 citations · 2002
- 3
- 4Controlling formations of multiple mobile robots687 citations · 2002
- 5A Survey on Aerial Swarm Robotics634 citations · 2018
- 6
- 7Cooperative Manipulation and Transportation with Aerial Robots466 citations · 2010
- 8Opportunities and challenges with autonomous micro aerial vehicles464 citations · 2012
- 9Cooperative Grasping and Transport Using Multiple Quadrotors457 citations · 2012
- 10Towards a swarm of agile micro quadrotors418 citations · 2013