Jonathan P. Cummings

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Jonathan P. Cummings is a robotics researcher whose work centers on the design and development of dexterous, dynamically balancing mobile manipulators. His primary contribution is the creation of the uBot-7, a 14-degree-of-freedom, 95 cm tall robot that integrates series elastic actuators for safe, compliant interaction with its environment. This platform represents a significant step forward in achieving a high performance-to-cost ratio for whole-body mobile manipulation. The uBot-7’s semi-anthropomorphic design and dynamic balancing capabilities allow it to perform versatile mobility and manipulation tasks, bridging the gap between humanoid and wheeled robots. Cummings’s most cited paper, “uBot-7: A dynamically balancing mobile manipulator with series elastic actuators” (2017), has garnered 12 citations, establishing a foundation for subsequent work detailed in his 2021 thesis. His research is particularly notable for its iterative, practical approach to realizing a compliant, dexterous, and cost-effective platform, making complex robotic behaviors more accessible for research and education.