K. M. Pathak

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

K. M. Pathak is a leading researcher in underwater robotics and 3D mapping, whose work has fundamentally advanced how autonomous systems perceive and navigate complex environments. His key research areas include sonar-based 3D reconstruction, geometric feature extraction from noisy sensor data, and efficient spatial data structures for robotic mapping. Pathak’s most impactful contribution is his pioneering work on plane-based registration of sonar data for underwater 3D mapping (33 citations), where he developed a method that fits planar surfaces to sonar point clouds and maximizes geometric consistency within a six-degree-of-freedom search space—enabling robust, real-world underwater navigation. He also made significant strides in fast polygon detection from noise-prone range sensors (26 citations), crucial for safety, security, and rescue robotics (SSRR), and optimized octree data structures for 3D mapping (11 citations), solving the memory bottleneck that had previously limited occupancy grid extensions to three dimensions. His work has been instrumental in bridging the gap between theoretical computational geometry and practical robotic perception, earning him recognition as a key innovator in spatial representation for autonomous systems operating in challenging, unstructured environments.