Rahul Kavi

Papers

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About

Rahul Kavi is a roboticist whose work centers on autonomous navigation, bio-inspired robotics, and sample return missions. His major contributions lie in developing robots capable of foraging—autonomously seeking, identifying, and retrieving objects in large, unstructured outdoor environments with minimal prior knowledge. Kavi’s most cited work, “Robot Foraging: Autonomous Sample Return in a Large Outdoor Environment” (2018, 19 citations), explores how biological foraging principles can be translated into robotic systems, enabling machines to operate with the adaptability seen in nature. His landmark achievement is the design of *Cataglyphis*, a research rover that won the NASA Sample Return Robot Centennial Challenge in 2015. As detailed in his 2017 paper (16 citations), *Cataglyphis* was the only robot in the competition to autonomously find, retrieve, and return multiple sample types in a natural setting, demonstrating a breakthrough in field robotics. Kavi’s work bridges biology and engineering, advancing autonomous systems for planetary exploration, search-and-rescue, and environmental monitoring. His research continues to inspire students and researchers interested in creating intelligent robots that can thrive in the wild.