DustBotAbout DustBot.org
About This Site
DustBot.org is a knowledge resource covering autonomous service robots — their engineering, their history, and their gradual entry into municipal life. The site draws heavily on the EU-funded DustBot project (FP6-045299, 2006–2009) but extends well beyond it, tracking the commercial and research robots that followed.
Who Writes Here
My name is Markus Lindner. I studied mechanical engineering at TU Munich before moving to the UK for a doctorate in mobile robotics at the University of Cambridge. My research focused on localisation methods for outdoor service platforms — the kind of work that, in retrospect, was deeply influenced by projects like DustBot even before I encountered them directly.
After completing my postdoc in 2018, I shifted toward science writing. I found that the gap between robotics research papers and public understanding was widening rather than narrowing, and I wanted to help bridge it. DustBot.org grew out of a personal archive I had been maintaining since roughly 2014 — a collection of papers, conference slides, and notes on service robotics that eventually became too large to keep private.
Editorial Approach
Every article on this site aims for technical accuracy without unnecessary jargon. Where I use specialist terminology — SLAM, LiDAR, differential GPS — I explain it. Where I cite research, I provide author names and publication years so readers can verify claims independently.
I write in British English, though the subject matter is international. The DustBot consortium spanned Italy, Sweden, Spain, the UK, and Switzerland. The field itself is global.
Contact
For corrections, questions, or collaboration proposals, you can reach me at [email protected]. I particularly welcome hearing from researchers who were involved in the original DustBot project or its successor initiatives.