Dirk H. P. Gerrits

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About

Dirk H. P. Gerrits is a researcher in algorithmic robotics and computational geometry, with a primary focus on motion planning for non-prehensile manipulation. His major contribution lies in developing algorithms for push planning—the problem of moving a passive object through an environment by pushing it with an active robot. In his most-cited work, "Computing push plans for disk-shaped robots" (2010, 10 citations), Gerrits introduced two algorithms for computing push plans when both the robot and object are disks moving among obstacles modeled as non-intersecting line segments. This work, along with its 2013 follow-up (9 citations), addresses a fundamental challenge in robotic manipulation: how to reliably reposition objects without grasping them. Though his citation counts are modest, Gerrits’ research tackles an elegant and nontrivial geometric problem that has practical implications for warehouse automation, service robotics, and assistive devices. His push-planning framework contributes to the broader understanding of how simple, disk-shaped robots can perform complex tasks through contact-based interaction, laying groundwork for more advanced manipulation strategies in cluttered environments.