Alok Kumar

Robotics Research (United States), International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Alok Kumar is a robotics researcher whose work centers on safe, real-time navigation in dynamic and uncertain environments, with a particular focus on human-robot interaction. His key contributions lie in the development of novel collision avoidance frameworks that extend the classical Velocity Obstacle paradigm. In his highly cited paper, "IVO" (2019, 9 citations), Kumar introduced the Inverse Velocity Obstacle, an egocentric framework that computes collision-free maneuvers for both single and multi-agent systems, significantly improving real-time implementation. Building on this foundation, his work "PIVO: Probabilistic Inverse Velocity Obstacle for Navigation under Uncertainty" (2019, 6 citations) addresses a critical challenge in real-world robotics: handling state estimation and motion uncertainty. By extending IVO to a probabilistic variant, Kumar’s framework enables robots to navigate safely in human-shared spaces where sensor noise and unpredictable movements are the norm. These contributions are particularly impactful for autonomous mobile robots, drones, and assistive technologies operating in crowded, dynamic settings. Kumar’s research bridges theoretical rigor with practical deployability, establishing him as a notable voice in the field of motion planning and autonomous navigation.