Mehul Sangekar

The University of Tokyo, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology

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About

Mehul Sangekar is a leading researcher in deep-sea robotics and marine mineral resource exploration, with a focus on advancing autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) technologies. His primary research areas include seafloor mapping, 3D bathymetry reconstruction, and the survey of cobalt-rich manganese crusts (Mn-crusts)—critical mineral deposits found on seamounts at depths exceeding 800 meters. Sangekar’s most impactful work, "Deep-Sea Robotic Survey and Data Processing Methods for Regional-Scale Estimation of Manganese Crust Distribution" (2020, 26 citations), developed an efficient method for mapping Mn-crust distribution using robotic data, enabling volumetric estimations vital for resource assessment. He also pioneered pixel-mapping techniques for generating 3D colored seafloor bathymetry from single-camera imagery (2010, 5 citations), enhancing visual survey capabilities. In a notable 2023 study, Sangekar demonstrated that integrating multibeam sonar with visual systems can quadruple survey coverage, significantly improving the efficiency of underwater robot-based Mn-crust exploration. His contributions are instrumental in bridging robotics and marine geology, offering scalable solutions for deep-sea resource mapping. With a career dedicated to pushing the boundaries of underwater survey technology, Sangekar’s work has profound implications for sustainable deep-sea mining and environmental monitoring.