Tom Larkworthy
Papers
6
Total Citations
297
H-Index
5
About
Tom Larkworthy is a leading researcher in modular robotics and persistent autonomous systems, with a particular focus on self-reconfiguring robots and adaptive autonomy for underwater vehicles. His most influential work, presented at the 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), has garnered over 250 citations, underscoring its significance in the field. Larkworthy made a seminal contribution with his efficient algorithm for self-reconfiguration planning in hexagonal metamorphic systems, achieving an average O(n) time complexity and successfully solving approximately 97% of planning tasks—a breakthrough that dramatically improved the practicality of modular robot reconfiguration. He further advanced the field through the PANDORA project, which explored persistent autonomy via learning, adaptation, and re-planning, and by pioneering probabilistic approaches that integrate semantics with uncertainty for AUV autonomy. His work on characterizing reconfiguration spaces and utilizing kinematic redundancy in modular robots to enhance localization accuracy has provided foundational insights for the robotics community. Larkworthy’s research bridges theoretical planning algorithms with real-world deployment challenges, making him a key figure in the evolution of adaptive, long-duration robotic systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2014)252 citations · 2014
- 2An efficient algorithm for self-reconfiguration planning in a modular robot18 citations · 2010
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- 6Utilizing Redundancy in Modular Robots to Achieve Greater Accuracy5 citations · 2009