David A. Johnson
John Deere (United States), John Deere (Germany), UCLouvain, De La Salle University, University of Hull
Papers
7
Total Citations
115
H-Index
6
About
David A. Johnson is a pioneering roboticist whose work has advanced autonomous agricultural and service robotics. His research centers on field robotics, vision-based localization, and intelligent control systems for practical, real-world applications. Johnson’s most impactful contribution is the development and implementation of a team of robotic tractors for autonomous peat moss harvesting (63 citations), a landmark project that demonstrated how multiple autonomous vehicles could safely and effectively mimic manual harvesting operations. He has also made significant strides in autonomous mowing, creating vision-based localization and mapping algorithms (13 citations) and an omnidirectional-vision system for containment detection (11 citations), which enable robots to navigate and operate within defined boundaries without human intervention. Beyond field robotics, Johnson’s work spans flexible robot arm control, humanoid robot design using fuzzy logic, and sensor-based control via Kalman filters. His early research on modal sensitivity analysis of planar robots contributed to the design of faster, lighter manipulators. With a career spanning from the 1980s to the 2010s, Johnson’s innovations in autonomous, sensor-guided systems continue to influence modern agricultural robotics and intelligent machine design.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Vision-based localization and mapping for an autonomous mower13 citations · 2013
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- 6A kalman filter approach to sensor-based robot control7 citations · 1985
- 7