Jonathan Evans

Heriot-Watt University, University of Essex

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Jonathan Evans is a leading researcher in autonomous robotics, with a primary focus on subsea and underwater vehicle systems. His work centers on developing robust architectures for autonomous navigation, collision avoidance, and real-world deployment of robotic platforms in challenging marine environments. Evans’s most influential contribution is his 2007 paper on a reactive and deliberative collision avoidance and escape architecture for autonomous robots, which has garnered 33 citations and remains a foundational reference for integrating real-time safety behaviors with higher-level planning in field robotics. He also played a pivotal role in the SPINAV (Subsea Pilotless Inspection using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) project, a joint-industry initiative funded by BP and Conoco-Philips that successfully transitioned next-generation autonomous systems into a prototype demonstrator for offshore oil inspection. To support such complex systems, Evans developed a distributed core simulation engine that enables incremental, remote integration of real subsystems and simulations—a key enabler for testing underwater vehicles. With over 50 combined citations across his most notable works, Evans’s research bridges the gap between theoretical autonomy and practical, industry-driven subsea robotics, making him a respected figure in applied marine automation.