Brett Kennedy
Papers
17
Total Citations
662
H-Index
12
About
Brett Kennedy is a pioneering roboticist whose career spans over two decades of transformative work in mobile manipulation, planetary exploration, and in-space robotic assembly. Based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Kennedy has made landmark contributions to the design of versatile robotic systems capable of operating in extreme and unstructured environments. His most celebrated work centers on RoboSimian, a statically stable quadrupedal robot featuring generalized limbs for both locomotion and dexterous manipulation, which earned 5th place at the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals and has garnered over 200 combined citations. Kennedy's early research on planetary rovers, including the LEMUR (Legged Excursion Mechanical Utility Rover) and Mars surface exploration systems, helped lay the conceptual groundwork for long-range robotic science missions. His forward-thinking vision extends beyond Earth's surface: his influential work on robotically assembled modular space telescopes and autonomous in-space construction of large-scale structures has attracted significant attention, with over 150 citations across those studies alone. Through multi-robot coordination, reconfigurable systems, and autonomous assembly architectures, Kennedy continues to push the boundaries of what robotic systems can achieve in the most demanding environments imaginable.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Architecture for in-space robotic assembly of a modular space telescope125 citations · 2016
- 3
- 4<title>Reconfigurable robots for all-terrain exploration</title>53 citations · 2000
- 5LEMUR: Legged Excursion Mechanical Utility Rover45 citations · 2001
- 6A portable, autonomous, urban reconnaissance robot33 citations · 2002
- 7
- 8
- 9Robotic Assembly of Space Solar-Power Facilities28 citations · 2001
- 10