Jean-Claude Latombe
Encyclopedia
Jean-Claude Latombe is a French
-American
roboticist
and the Kumagai Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University
. Latombe is a world-renowned researcher in robot motion planning
, and has authored one of the most highly cited books in the field.
and computer science
from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble (now Grenoble Institute of Technology) in 1969 and 1970, respectively, and a M.S.
in electrical engineering in 1972, with the thesis Design of a Computer-Aided Instruction System in Electrical Engineering. In 1977, Latombe received a Ph.D.
in computer science from the University of Grenoble
with a thesis Artificial Intelligence for Design Automation.
He joined the faculty of INPG in 1980, and left in 1984 to join the Industry and Technology for Machine Intelligence (ITMI), a company he co-founded in 1982. In 1987, Latombe joined Stanford University as an Associate Professor, and have since been the Professor (1992), Chairman (1997–2000), and Kumagai Professor (2001–Present) in the Department of Computer Science.
. After Mark Overmars
published the Probabilistic Roadmap Method
(PRM) in 1992, Latombe and Lydia Kavraki
independently developed the algorithm in 1994, and their joint paper with Overmars, Probabilistic roadmaps for path planning in high-dimensional configuration spaces, is considered one of the most influential studies in motion planning
, and has been widely cited (more than 1000 times as of 2008). More recently, Latombe has applied his knowledge in robotics to structural biology problems, and developed the PRM-based Stochastic Roadmap Simulation
(SRS) to efficiently generate and analyze large collections of protein trajectories.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
roboticist
Roboticist
A roboticist designs, builds, programs, and experiments with robots. Since robotics is a highly interdisciplinary field, roboticists often have backgrounds in a number of disciplines including computer science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer engineering...
and the Kumagai Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. Latombe is a world-renowned researcher in robot motion planning
Motion planning
Motion planning is a term used in robotics for the process of detailing a task into discrete motions....
, and has authored one of the most highly cited books in the field.
Biography
Latombe received his dual-Engineering Degree in electrical engineeringElectrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble (now Grenoble Institute of Technology) in 1969 and 1970, respectively, and a M.S.
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
in electrical engineering in 1972, with the thesis Design of a Computer-Aided Instruction System in Electrical Engineering. In 1977, Latombe received a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in computer science from the University of Grenoble
University of Grenoble
University of Grenoble or Grenoble University was a university in Grenoble, France until 1970, when it was split into several different institutions:...
with a thesis Artificial Intelligence for Design Automation.
He joined the faculty of INPG in 1980, and left in 1984 to join the Industry and Technology for Machine Intelligence (ITMI), a company he co-founded in 1982. In 1987, Latombe joined Stanford University as an Associate Professor, and have since been the Professor (1992), Chairman (1997–2000), and Kumagai Professor (2001–Present) in the Department of Computer Science.
Work
Latombe is an important figure in robotic motion planningMotion planning
Motion planning is a term used in robotics for the process of detailing a task into discrete motions....
. After Mark Overmars
Mark Overmars
Markus Hendrik Overmars is a Dutch computer scientist and teacher of game programming known for his game development application Game Maker. Game Maker lets people create computer games using a drag-and-drop interface. He is the head of the Center for Geometry, Imaging, and Virtual Environments...
published the Probabilistic Roadmap Method
Probabilistic Roadmap Method
The probabilistic roadmap planner is a motion planning algorithm in robotics, which solves the problem of determining a path between a starting configuration of the robot and a goal configuration while avoiding collisions....
(PRM) in 1992, Latombe and Lydia Kavraki
Lydia Kavraki
Lydia E. Kavraki is a Greek-American computer scientist, the Noah Harding Professor of Computer Science and a professor of bioengineering at Rice University and a professor of structural and computational biology and molecular biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine...
independently developed the algorithm in 1994, and their joint paper with Overmars, Probabilistic roadmaps for path planning in high-dimensional configuration spaces, is considered one of the most influential studies in motion planning
Motion planning
Motion planning is a term used in robotics for the process of detailing a task into discrete motions....
, and has been widely cited (more than 1000 times as of 2008). More recently, Latombe has applied his knowledge in robotics to structural biology problems, and developed the PRM-based Stochastic Roadmap Simulation
Stochastic Roadmap Simulation
Stochastic roadmap simulation is inspired by Probabilistic roadmap methods developed for robot motion planning.The main idea of these methods is to capture the connectivity of a geometrically complex high-dimensional space by constructing a graph of local paths connecting points randomly sampled...
(SRS) to efficiently generate and analyze large collections of protein trajectories.