Zuo Cao

Tianjin University of Technology, Shanghai Institute for Science of Science

Papers

Total Citations

246

H-Index

About

Zuo Cao is a pioneering researcher in mobile robotics, whose foundational contributions to robot navigation and path planning emerged during the mid-to-late 1980s — a formative period for the field. His most influential work centers on two interconnected areas: omnidirectional vision-based navigation and region filling operations for mobile robots. Cao's most cited paper, "Region Filling Operations with Random Obstacle Avoidance for Mobile Robots" (1988), has accumulated 133 citations and introduced the innovative concept of region filling — enabling robots to systematically sweep and cover entire areas while dynamically avoiding obstacles using sensory data. This work, complemented by an earlier graph-theoretic approach published in 1986 (31 citations), established a rigorous framework for complete-coverage path planning that remains relevant to applications like autonomous cleaning and agricultural robotics. Equally significant is Cao's work on omnidirectional vision navigation, first presented in 1985 and expanded in a widely cited 1986 paper (76 citations), which introduced novel algorithms enabling mobile robots to perceive and respond to their full surroundings. Together, these contributions — totaling over 240 citations — mark Cao as a foundational voice in autonomous robot mobility, sensor-driven navigation, and intelligent path planning.