SLAM and Adaptive Navigation for Robotics

Dear Colleagues,

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and adaptive navigation are fundamental to enabling diverse autonomous robotic systems—including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs)—to perceive, localize, and coordinate effectively in complex and dynamic environments. This Special Issue explores the integration of SLAM and adaptive navigation techniques for single-robot systems, multi-robot systems, and large-scale robotic swarms. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, SLAM, localization and mapping, adaptive navigation, and path planning. We especially encourage submissions focusing on swarm coordination strategies such as cluster-wide coverage path planning, distributed task allocation, and dynamic topology control. Contributions that harness artificial intelligence, machine learning, and bio-inspired algorithms to improve robustness, scalability, and real-time adaptability of heterogeneous robotic systems are highly welcome. This topic aligns closely with the scope of Robotics by advancing coordinated autonomy and intelligent navigation for robots operating in unstructured and unpredictable environments.

Dr. Jinjin Yan
Dr. Minzhou Luo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Robotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.