Papers
5
Total Citations
200
H-Index
4
About
Kyel Ok is a leading researcher in autonomous robotics, specializing in multi-robot systems, GPS-denied navigation, and vision-based perception for unstructured outdoor environments. His most impactful work addresses the formidable challenge of search and rescue under forest canopies, where GPS signals are unavailable and severe perceptual aliasing complicates collaborative mapping. In his highly cited 2020 paper (122 citations), Ok introduced a multi-UAV system that overcomes these obstacles, enabling reliable exploration and mapping in visually ambiguous terrain—a critical advancement for emergency response in wilderness areas. He also pioneered path planning under uncertainty with his Voronoi Uncertainty Fields approach (2013, 46 citations), which guarantees collision-free routes even with imperfect maps. For small robot navigation, Ok developed a two-part vision system combining saliency detection and model-based tracking (2012, 24 citations), allowing quadrotors to build tree-trunk maps and localize autonomously in forests. His work on monocular Parallel Tracking and Mapping with odometry fusion further extends MAV capabilities in feature-lacking environments. With over 200 total citations, Ok’s contributions are foundational for deploying resilient, cooperative robots in the world’s most challenging natural environments.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Search and rescue under the forest canopy using multiple UAVs122 citations · 2020
- 2Path planning with uncertainty: Voronoi Uncertainty Fields46 citations · 2013
- 3
- 4
- 5Search and Rescue under the Forest Canopy using Multiple UAVs4 citations · 2019