C. Santilli

Papers

Total Citations

109

H-Index

About

C. Santilli is a leading figure in the field of nonholonomic robotics, with a focused research program dedicated to solving the fundamental challenge of path planning for vehicles with constrained mobility. His core contributions lie in developing mathematically rigorous methods for computing shortest, bounded-curvature paths through cluttered environments—a critical problem for autonomous cars, mobile robots, and other systems with limited turning radii. Santilli’s seminal work, "Planning shortest bounded-curvature paths for a class of nonholonomic vehicles among obstacles," published in 1996 and again in an extended form in 2002, has garnered over 100 combined citations, establishing it as a cornerstone reference in the field. This research ingeniously extends the classic Reeds–Shepp curves to obstacle-rich settings, providing provably optimal solutions for unicycle and car-like kinematics. While his later work on cluttered environments has seen more modest citation numbers, Santilli’s early contributions remain highly influential, providing the theoretical bedrock for modern motion planning algorithms. His achievements are particularly notable for bridging elegant geometric theory with practical robotic navigation, making him a respected authority in nonholonomic motion planning.