Papers
20
Total Citations
879
H-Index
11
About
Alain Fournier is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work has fundamentally shaped the field of parallel robot design and mobile robotics. Best known for his contributions to high-speed parallel robotic architectures, Fournier played a central role in developing and modeling the DELTA robot — a landmark mechanical structure originating from EPFL that elegantly combined the rigidity advantages of parallel robots with the modeling simplicity of serial systems. This seminal 1990 paper has accumulated 252 citations and remains a foundational reference in robotics engineering. Building on this work, Fournier extended the DELTA concept into six-degree-of-freedom platforms, most notably the HEXA robot, designed specifically for high-speed industrial applications, further cementing his reputation as an innovator in parallel kinematics. His research breadth is equally impressive: he made notable contributions to mobile robot attitude estimation using low-cost inertial sensor fusion (159 citations), multi-arm cooperative robotics, model reference control, and CAD/CAM systems for robotics. With a career spanning several decades and cumulative citations exceeding 800, Fournier's work continues to influence robot designers, control engineers, and automation researchers worldwide, making his publications essential reading for anyone studying advanced robotic systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1DELTA: a simple and efficient parallel robot252 citations · 1990
- 2Mobile robot attitude estimation by fusion of inertial data159 citations · 2002
- 3A New Design of a 6-DOF Parallel Robot118 citations · 1990
- 4HEXA: a fast six-DOF fully-parallel robot85 citations · 1991
- 5Towards a fully-parallel 6 DOF robot for high-speed applications73 citations · 2002
- 6Fast parallel robots60 citations · 1991
- 7Model reference control of high-velocity industrial robots31 citations · 1980
- 8Hybrid control of a two-arm robot for complex tasks16 citations · 1989
- 9Trends in CAD/CAM systems for robotics15 citations · 1986
- 10True cooperation of robots in multi-arms tasks14 citations · 2005