William Morris

About

William Morris is a pioneering roboticist whose work bridges the critical gap between medical robotics and autonomous mobile systems. His research focuses on three key areas: surgical robotics, wall-climbing robots, and multi-robot 3D mapping. Morris’s most impactful contribution is the development of a four-degree-of-freedom robotic needle guide for prostate brachytherapy (62 citations), which dramatically improves precision in radioactive seed implantation. He is also the visionary behind the City-Climber series—a new generation of wall-climbing robots that use aerodynamic attraction to traverse vertical surfaces and ceilings with unprecedented mobility. This work, showcased in multiple publications (30+ citations), has opened new possibilities for inspection and mapping in GPS-denied environments. Morris further advanced the field by creating an open-source pose estimation system for micro-air vehicles (33 citations) and pioneering heterogeneous robot teams that fuse ground and climbing robots to construct complete 3D indoor maps. His innovative use of RGB-D cameras for real-time pose estimation and dual-robot laser scan registration demonstrates his commitment to practical, deployable solutions. Through his work at the City College of New York, Morris has established himself as a leader in making robots more versatile, precise, and collaborative.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   A robotic needle guide for prostate brachytherapy

   62 citations · 2008
2. 2
   An open-source pose estimation system for micro-air vehicles

   33 citations · 2011
3. 3
   City Climber: a new generation of mobile robot with wall-climbing capability

   30 citations · 2006
4. 4
   City-Climbers at Work

   21 citations · 2007
5. 5
   Real-time pose estimation with RGB-D camera

   9 citations · 2012
6. 6
   3D Laser scan registration of dual-robot system using vision

   9 citations · 2009
7. 7
   Polygon-based laser scan registration by heterogeneous robots

   3 citations · 2010
8. 8
   3D map construction using heterogeneous robots

   2 citations · 2008

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links