Hamidreza Chitsaz

About

Hamidreza Chitsaz is a leading roboticist whose work has fundamentally advanced the theory of optimal motion planning for wheeled mobile robots. His research centers on characterizing the shortest and fastest paths for nonholonomic systems—robots whose movement is constrained by their mechanics, such as differential-drive and car-like vehicles. Chitsaz’s major contributions include deriving the minimum wheel-rotation paths for differential-drive robots, a foundational result that not only defines the robot’s inherent motion capabilities but also provides a family of motion primitives for navigating around obstacles. His highly cited 2009 paper on this topic (66 citations) and its 2006 precursor (39 citations) are considered seminal in the field. He further generalized these results to bounded-velocity robots, extending classic work on Dubins and Reeds-Shepp cars. Chitsaz has also tackled the challenging problem of time-optimal trajectories for car-like robots with trailers and developed the NUROA numerical roadmap algorithm for practical motion planning. His work bridges rigorous optimal control theory with real-world robotic applications, making him a key figure in the quest for efficient, provably optimal robot navigation.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Minimum Wheel-Rotation Paths for Differential-Drive Mobile Robots

   66 citations · 2009
2. 2
   Minimum wheel-rotation paths for differential-drive mobile robots

   39 citations · 2006
3. 3
   Generalizing the dubins and reeds-shepp cars: Fastest paths for bounded-velocity mobile robots

   19 citations · 2008
4. 4
   Minimum Wheel-Rotation Paths for Differential Drive Mobile Robots Among Piecewise Smooth Obstacles

   16 citations · 2007
5. 5
   On Time-optimal Trajectories for a Car-like Robot with One Trailer

   2 citations · 2013
6. 6
   NUROA: A Numerical Roadmap Algorithm

   2 citations · 2014

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links