Carl Leake
Papers
5
Total Citations
89
H-Index
4
About
Carl Leake is a robotics researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory whose work is pushing the boundaries of autonomous exploration in the solar system’s most extreme and unknown environments. His primary research focus is on developing versatile, high-degree-of-freedom snake-like robots—most notably the EELS (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor) platform—designed to navigate treacherous terrains such as the icy vents of Enceladus and the subsurface oceans of Titan and Europa. Leake’s major contributions include pioneering task and motion planning algorithms that enable these robots to operate with resilience even when exteroceptive sensors fail, a critical capability for missions where prior reconnaissance is impossible. His most cited work, “EELS: Autonomous snake-like robot with task and motion planning capabilities for ice world exploration” (2024, 62 citations), lays the foundation for astrobiological exploration of ocean worlds. He also developed the Dshell-DARTS simulation toolkit, a reusability-focused, multi-mission framework supporting high-fidelity modeling for interplanetary, orbital, and surface vehicles. Leake’s NEO autonomy framework, introduced in 2024, represents a leap forward in robustly exploring unknown environments with versatile robots, cementing his role as a key innovator in space robotics.
Research Focus
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