Brook S. Kennedy

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Virginia Tech

Papers

Total Citations

107

H-Index

About

Brook S. Kennedy is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of multi-robot coordination, space robotics, and bio-inspired design. His work has fundamentally advanced how robotic teams collaborate in extreme environments, from planetary surfaces to vertical cliff faces. Kennedy's most influential contribution is the "Mars rover pair cooperatively transporting a long payload" (50 citations), which demonstrated tightly coupled coordination for handling large objects on challenging terrain—a critical capability for future Mars missions. His development of the "distributed control for a modular, reconfigurable cliff robot" (32 citations) introduced an aggressive mobility system of three tethered robots that autonomously navigate vertical walls, showcasing innovative collective state estimation and coordinated control. Kennedy also contributed to NASA's "System of Systems for Space Construction" (12 citations), addressing robotic site preparation for lunar habitats under the Vision for Space Exploration. His work on the LEMUR walking robot (7 citations) integrated vision-guided self-alignment for precise manipulation. Notably, Kennedy later applied bio-inspiration to human-centered product design (6 citations), bridging nature's strategies with sustainable engineering solutions. With over 100 total citations, his research continues to shape autonomous robotics for space exploration and terrestrial applications.