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About

Johannes Pankert is a leading researcher at the intersection of robotics, control theory, and construction automation, with a primary focus on mobile manipulation and autonomous building. His most influential work, "Perceptive Model Predictive Control for Continuous Mobile Manipulation" (106 citations), introduces a receding horizon control scheme that integrates visual obstacle avoidance and haptic force control, enabling robots to safely track task-space trajectories in dynamic environments. Pankert has made significant contributions to advancing 3D printing in construction, notably in his 2024 paper on mobile robots for building maintenance and repair, which explores the flexibility of deposition-based technologies using concrete and earth. He also addresses fundamental challenges in assembly tasks through learning-based contact state estimation, achieving high accuracy in tight-tolerance insertions where vision alone falls short. His design of a reconfigurable robotic base balances compact navigation with stability, while PLASTR, his planning algorithm for autonomous plaster trowelling, demonstrates practical construction applications. With a fully-integrated sensing and control system achieving millimeter-scale accuracy on building sites, and early work on humanoid robot capture stepping, Pankert’s research consistently bridges perception, planning, and physical interaction, driving the future of autonomous construction and mobile manipulation.