M.M. Curtiss

Papers

Total Citations

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About

M.M. Curtiss has made pioneering contributions at the intersection of robotics motion planning and formal verification, fundamentally advancing how hybrid systems—those combining continuous dynamics with discrete logic—are analyzed and controlled. Their most influential work, the 2006 survey "Sampling-based planning, control and verification of hybrid systems," has garnered 75 citations and remains a cornerstone reference in the field. Curtiss demonstrated how algorithms originally developed for robot path planning, particularly rapidly exploring random trees (RRTs), could be adapted to solve classical nonlinear control problems, effectively bridging two previously separate disciplines. This innovation opened new pathways for verifying the safety and performance of complex cyber-physical systems, from autonomous vehicles to industrial automation. By showing that sampling-based methods could tackle verification tasks traditionally requiring exhaustive state-space exploration, Curtiss provided engineers with practical tools for ensuring system reliability. Their work continues to inspire researchers seeking scalable solutions for controlling and verifying increasingly autonomous systems, cementing Curtiss's reputation as a key figure in the evolution of hybrid systems theory and its real-world applications.