Papers
11
Total Citations
205
H-Index
6
About
David B. Reister is a pioneering roboticist whose research centers on mobile robot kinematics, time-optimal motion planning, and omnidirectional vehicle control. His most influential contribution, the 1994 paper "Time-Optimal Trajectories for Mobile Robots With Two Independently Driven Wheels" (90 citations), fundamentally addressed how to compute the fastest possible motions for nonholonomic platforms, a problem critical to autonomous navigation. Reister also made seminal advances in wheel control systems for omnidirectional robots, notably through his work on the HERMIES-III platform—a large, human-scale robot designed for hazardous environment operations. His 1993 paper on constraint force control for vehicles with multiple steerable drive wheels (47 citations) provided key theoretical foundations for coordinated wheel motion. Beyond theory, Reister demonstrated real-world impact by leading DEMO 89, the first experiment where HERMIES-III autonomously cleaned up a simulated chemical spill, and by applying robotics to radioactive waste drum inspection. His work bridges rigorous optimal control theory with practical field robotics, influencing both academic research and Department of Energy missions in hazardous material handling.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
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- 3A new wheel control system for the omnidirectional HERMIES-III robot18 citations · 1992
- 4A new wheel control system for the omnidirectional HERMIES-III robot15 citations · 2002
- 5DEMO 89-the initial experiment with the HERMIES-III robot13 citations · 2002
- 6Time-Optimal Paths for High-Speed Maneuvering10 citations · 1995
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- 8Mobile robotics activities in DOE laboratories2 citations · 2005
- 9The least squares fit of a hyperplane to uncertain data2 citations · 1997
- 10