Nikhil Ahuja

Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physiology

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Nikhil Ahuja’s research bridges robotics and neuroscience, focusing on how agents—whether machines or animals—navigate and interact with dynamic environments. His early work in robotics, notably “Robot path planning using a potential field representation” (1989, 9 citations), introduced foundational methods for autonomous navigation, influencing subsequent developments in obstacle avoidance and motion planning. More recently, Ahuja has turned to comparative cognition, exploring how rats organize spatial behavior relative to moving objects. His study “Navigation in a Space With Moving Objects” (2020, 7 citations) demonstrated that rats can avoid specific locations defined with respect to a moving robot, revealing sophisticated cognitive strategies akin to predator evasion or social coordination. Building on this, “Transient inactivation of the anterior cingulate cortex in rats disrupts avoidance of a dynamic object” (2017, 3 citations) identified a neural substrate critical for this behavior, offering insights into the brain mechanisms underlying spatial decision-making. Ahuja’s interdisciplinary approach—from early 3D robot vision (1982) to cutting-edge neuroethology—showcases a unique trajectory that connects engineering principles with biological intelligence, making his work valuable for students and researchers in robotics, cognitive science, and systems neuroscience.