About

Keiji Nagatami is a distinguished robotics researcher whose work spans autonomous navigation, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and disaster response robotics. His foundational 2001 paper on topological SLAM, now garnering over 619 citations, introduced a landmark approach to robot localization by exploiting environmental topology rather than relying on explicit geometric representations — a contribution that reshaped how autonomous robots navigate complex spaces. Nagatami's research gained international prominence following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, where he led and contributed to the deployment of mobile rescue robots in one of history's most challenging emergency responses. His work documenting those missions has accumulated over 600 citations and remains essential reading in disaster robotics. Complementing this, his collaborative research on ground-aerial robot teams mapping earthquake-damaged buildings (379 citations) advanced multi-robot coordination in hazardous environments. Beyond disaster response, Nagatami has made notable contributions to sensor fusion through adaptive Kalman filtering for GPS-based localization, ultrasonic sensor accuracy improvement, and innovative wheel-leg hybrid robot mechanisms. His breadth of impact — from theoretical SLAM frameworks to life-saving field deployments — makes him a defining figure in modern field robotics research.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

32
H-Index
119
Papers
4,492
Total Citations
38
Avg Citations/Paper
🏆 Most Cited Paper
Topological simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM): toward exact localization without explicit localization
619 citations · 2001
📈 Most Prolific Year: 2010 (16 Papers)
🤝 Key Collaborators: 220
🏛 Institutions: Okayama University, Tohoku University, Carnegie Mellon University, Okayama University of Science, University of Tsukuba, The University of Tokyo

Top Papers

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Key Collaborators

Contact & Links

Available for collaboration
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