K.S. Roberts

Columbia University

Papers

5

Total Citations

107

H-Index

4

About

K.S. Roberts is a pioneering robotics researcher whose work has significantly advanced the fields of haptic perception, dexterous manipulation, and intelligent robotic grasping. With a career spanning several decades, Roberts has made foundational contributions to how robots sense, interpret, and interact with physical objects in three-dimensional space. Roberts is perhaps best known for research into active touch exploration, with the 2002 paper "Robot active touch exploration: constraints and strategies" accumulating 56 citations — a landmark contribution that combined geometric constraint methods with interpretation-tree approaches to enable robots to recognize objects through haptic feedback alone. This work laid important groundwork for tactile robotics, a field of growing relevance in modern automation. Beyond perception, Roberts developed integrated systems for dextrous manipulation using the Utah-MIT Hand, one of the most sophisticated robotic hand platforms of its era. Contributions include novel quaternion-based algorithms for coordinating multi-fingered hands with robotic arms, as well as multisensor programming environments enabling autonomous grasping tasks incorporating force, position, and tactile sensing. With a cumulative citation record reflecting sustained scholarly influence, Roberts' body of work represents essential reading for researchers exploring robotic manipulation, sensor-based object recognition, and the enduring challenge of human-like dexterity in machines.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

4
H-Index
5
Papers
107
Total Citations
21
Avg Citations/Paper
🏆 Most Cited Paper
Robot active touch exploration: constraints and strategies
56 citations · 2002
📈 Most Prolific Year: 2002 (2 Papers)
🤝 Key Collaborators: 3
🏛 Institutions: Columbia University

Top Papers

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Key Collaborators

Contact & Links

Available for collaboration
Content generated · 15 days ago