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About

Jonatan Scharff Willners is a robotics researcher specializing in autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and human-robot interaction. His work sits at the intersection of perception, navigation, and autonomy for robotic systems operating in challenging, GPS-denied environments. Willners has made significant contributions to underwater robotics, most notably through his development of robust visual SLAM systems that fuse acoustic, inertial, and depth sensing to overcome the notoriously difficult conditions of underwater perception — earning 48 citations and establishing him as a notable voice in marine autonomy. His extension of the Hybrid A* path planner to full 3D environments with kinematic constraints (33 citations) further demonstrates his commitment to making AUVs safer and more capable in unstructured settings. His more recent work on adaptive heading for perception-aware trajectory following and 3D sonar reconstruction using signed distance functions reflects an ongoing drive to push the boundaries of underwater mapping and localization. Beyond vehicle autonomy, Willners has also explored how humans can effectively interact with remote autonomous systems through conversational agents, broadening his impact into human-robot interaction. His growing citation record highlights a research portfolio that is both technically rigorous and practically motivated.