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ROBOTICIST & FOUNDER

Robots that work on their own where there is no GPS, no signal, and no map.

Field robotics engineer and founder of Sarthi Robotics. I take research-grade autonomy out of the lab and into operating mines and natural caves, where a robot has to navigate on its own and return with results people can act on.

Open sourceEmail
>1 km
autonomous lava-tube mapping
20+
field deployments
Sarthi
Robotics, founder

Sarthi Robotics

pre-seed · solo founder

Sarthi runs underground inspection rounds autonomously, without GPS, connectivity, or a pilot, and turns each run into a clear report: what it saw, what changed, and what needs attention. The first focus is Nordic underground hard-rock mining. The head of the Robotics & AI group at LTU advises.

Field-proven autonomyClear inspection reportsProduct in development

ON CLAIMS

I tag what is proven separately from what is in progress. Field-proven means it has run underground for real; in development and planned mean just that.

Visit Sarthi Roboticslink to follow

FIELD RECORD

Work in the field

A record of field campaigns, each one run in a real environment rather than a simulator. The Iceland lava-tube mission, pinned below, was the first of its kind.

  1. msn-001Field-provenpinned

    First autonomous lava-tube exploration

    Lava tube, Iceland · Field campaign

    Fully autonomous aerial exploration and mapping of a natural lava tube. More than 1 km explored on a single mission architecture, no GPS and no pilot.

  2. msn-002Field-proven

    Post-collapse rockfall assessment

    Iron-ore mine, Northern Sweden · Field campaign

    Autonomous mapping and inspection of rockfall zones after a roof collapse in an operating iron-ore mine, producing a clear survey of the affected area.

  3. msn-003Field-proven

    Autonomous vertical shaft inspection

    Vertical mine shaft · NexGen SIMS

    Full autonomy in vertical shaft exploration with high-fidelity 3D reconstruction in real underground conditions.

  4. msn-004Field-proven

    Post-blast gas-measurement missions

    Underground mines · Journal work

    Autonomous post-blast gas-measurement runs in underground mines, letting crews re-enter on data rather than on a fixed clock.

  5. msn-005Field-proven

    Underground exploration & waypoint trials

    Nordic mines, potash operations · Multi-year

    Years of underground exploration and waypoint-navigation trials with Nordic mining companies, a mining-equipment manufacturer, and a European potash operator across EU- and industry-funded projects.

Software & open source

The planners, mappers, and control bridges behind the deployments. Some are mine, some are group work I co-authored, and all are ROS-based and tested in the field.

LTU-RAI/ExplorationRRT

ERRT, the T-RO 2024 planner. A ROS-based, real-time sampling framework that fuses local exploration, safe path planning, and actuation. Field-validated underground.

C++co-author
aakapatel/confidence_mapper

2.5D traversability-confidence mapping: elevation, slope, and a per-cell confidence metric for reactive ground navigation.

C++author
aakapatel/stage_planner

STAGE, the ICRA 2024 exploration planner. A two-layered, traversability-aware graph framework for large-scale exploration.

C++author
aakapatel/px4_comm

Communication bridge for PX4-based aerial platforms, wiring flight control into the ROS autonomy stack.

C++author
aakapatel/Mars_Coaxial_Quadrotor

Design, modelling, and model-predictive control of a coaxial quadrotor for the Martian environment.

MATLABauthor
aakapatel/adaptive-stage

Adaptive exploration experiments building on the STAGE graph planner.

C++author

RUNS ON

ROS / ROS2C++PythonPX4NMPCSLAM / LiDARGTSAM-class estimationDockerLinux

WORKS WITH

RESPLESuperOdomwavemapvoxbloxlidar_situational_graphsnmpc_px4_ros2GenesisCloudPeek

Grounded in published research

This work builds on peer-reviewed research: planners, mappers, and estimators published at T-RO, ICRA, and IROS.

See the research side

Open to mines, investors, and collaborators

If you run underground operations, invest in hard tech, or want to work on field robotics together, I'd be glad to talk.

aaka.patel@hotmail.com