Ankit Ravankar

I work on mobile robotics for real-world environments, with a focus on navigation, semantic scene understanding, and assistive robotic systems for home and healthcare use.

Mobile Robot Navigation Path Planning Multi-Robot Systems Scene Understanding Assistive Robotics Generative AI for Robotics

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Robotics at Tohoku University, Japan. I obtained my Ph.D. in Human Mechanical Systems and Design Engineering from Hokkaido University in 2015, specializing in autonomous mobile robot navigation. I was also a MEXT scholarship recipient during my graduate studies from 2010 to 2015.

Before joining Tohoku University, I served as an Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering at Hokkaido University from 2015 to 2021. My current research focuses on intelligent service robots for homes, healthcare, and elderly support, especially through semantic reasoning, scene understanding, and human-centered robotic assistance.

My broader work in robotics has also included field robotics and search-and-rescue systems, autonomous driving in snow environments, agricultural robotics for vineyard monitoring and weed inspection, and aerial robotics for infrastructure inspection and spectral imaging.

news

Jan 10, 2026	I will give an invited talk at the workshop on Addressing the Societal Challenge of Aging through Integrated Robotic Support Systems at the IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII 2026) in Cancun, Mexico.
Jan 05, 2026	I have been appointed as Associate Editor for the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots & Systems (IROS2026).
Dec 15, 2025	I have joined the Editorial Board of Evolutionary Intelligence (Springer).
Dec 10, 2025	I have been appointed as Associate Editor for the Frontiers in Robotics and AI in Industrial Robotics and Automation Section.
Nov 01, 2025	One paper was accepted to the 2026 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration (SII 2026), to be held in Cancun, Mexico.
Jul 01, 2025	Two papers were accepted to the 2025 SICE Festival with Annual Conference (SICE FES 2025), to be held in September 2025 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Jun 16, 2025	Our paper Enhancing Object Search in Indoor Spaces via Personalized Object-Factored Ontologies has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the 2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2025) as an oral presentation.
Jun 10, 2025	Two papers were accepted to the 34th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (IEEE RO-MAN 2025), to be held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Jun 08, 2025	I participated in and presented six papers at the Robotics and Mechatronics Conference 2025 (ROBOMECH 2025) held in Yamagata, Japan.
Jun 04, 2025	Our paper titled “Real-Time Geometric-Registration-Based Precision Localization for Autonomous Docking in Unstructured Factory Environment” was accepted to IEEE RA-L.

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selected publications

Hitchhiking robots: A collaborative approach for efficient multi-robot navigation in indoor environments

Abhijeet Ravankar, Ankit A Ravankar, Yukinori Kobayashi, and Takanori Emaru

Sensors, 2017

DOI Bib HTML

@article{ravankar2017hitchhiking,
  title = {Hitchhiking robots: A collaborative approach for efficient multi-robot navigation in indoor environments},
  author = {Ravankar, Abhijeet and Ravankar, Ankit A and Kobayashi, Yukinori and Emaru, Takanori},
  journal = {Sensors},
  volume = {17},
  number = {8},
  pages = {1878},
  year = {2017},
  dimensions = {true},
  doi = {https://doi.org/10.3390/s17081878},
  publisher = {MDPI}
}

Autonomous vtol-uav docking system for heterogeneous multirobot team

Eduardo Narváez^*†, Ankit A Ravankar^*†, Abhijeet Ravankar, Takanori Emaru, and Yukinori Kobayashi

IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 2020

DOI Bib HTML PDF

@article{narvaez2020autonomous,
  title = {Autonomous vtol-uav docking system for heterogeneous multirobot team},
  author = {Narv{\'a}ez, Eduardo and Ravankar, Ankit A and Ravankar, Abhijeet and Emaru, Takanori and Kobayashi, Yukinori},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement},
  volume = {70},
  pages = {1--18},
  year = {2020},
  dimensions = {true},
  doi = {10.1109/TIM.2020.3039649},
  publisher = {IEEE}
}

HPPRM: hybrid potential based probabilistic roadmap algorithm for improved dynamic path planning of mobile robots

Ankit A Ravankar, Abhijeet Ravankar, Takanori Emaru, and Yukinori Kobayashi

IEEE Access, 2020

DOI Bib HTML

@article{ravankar2020hpprm,
  title = {HPPRM: hybrid potential based probabilistic roadmap algorithm for improved dynamic path planning of mobile robots},
  author = {Ravankar, Ankit A and Ravankar, Abhijeet and Emaru, Takanori and Kobayashi, Yukinori},
  journal = {IEEE Access},
  volume = {8},
  pages = {221743--221766},
  year = {2020},
  dimensions = {true},
  doi = {10.1109/MRA.2022.3223256},
  type = {article},
  publisher = {IEEE}
}

Multi-modal sensor fusion-based semantic segmentation for snow driving scenarios

Sirawich Vachmanus, Ankit A Ravankar, Takanori Emaru, and Yukinori Kobayashi

IEEE sensors journal, 2021

DOI Bib HTML

@article{vachmanus2021multi,
  title = {Multi-modal sensor fusion-based semantic segmentation for snow driving scenarios},
  author = {Vachmanus, Sirawich and Ravankar, Ankit A and Emaru, Takanori and Kobayashi, Yukinori},
  journal = {IEEE sensors journal},
  volume = {21},
  number = {15},
  pages = {16839--16851},
  year = {2021},
  dimensions = {true},
  doi = {10.1109/JSEN.2021.3077029},
  publisher = {IEEE}
}

Care: Cooperation of ai robot enablers to create a vibrant society

Ankit A Ravankar, Seyed Amir Tafrishi, Jose V Salazar Luces, Fumi Seto, and Yasuhisa Hirata

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 2023

DOI Bib HTML

@article{ravankar2023care,
  title = {Care: Cooperation of ai robot enablers to create a vibrant society},
  author = {Ravankar, Ankit A and Tafrishi, Seyed Amir and Luces, Jose V Salazar and Seto, Fumi and Hirata, Yasuhisa},
  journal = {IEEE Robotics \& Automation Magazine},
  volume = {30},
  number = {1},
  pages = {8--23},
  year = {2023},
  dimensions = {true},
  doi = {10.1109/MRA.2022.3223256},
  type = {article},
  publisher = {IEEE}
}

Running Guidance for Visually Impaired People Using Sensory Augmentation Technology Based Robotic System

Zhenyu Liao, Jose V Salazar Luces, Ankit A Ravankar, and Yasuhisa Hirata

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2023

DOI Bib HTML PDF

@article{liao2023running,
  title = {Running Guidance for Visually Impaired People Using Sensory Augmentation Technology Based Robotic System},
  author = {Liao, Zhenyu and Luces, Jose V Salazar and Ravankar, Ankit A and Hirata, Yasuhisa},
  journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
  year = {2023},
  volume = {8},
  number = {9},
  pages = {5323-5330},
  type = {article},
  doi = {10.1109/LRA.2023.3294718},
  publisher = {IEEE}
}

Concept and prototype development of adaptive touch walking support robot for maximizing human physical potential

Junya Terayama, Ankit A Ravankar, Jose Victorio Salazar Luces, Seyed Amir Tafrishi, and Yasuhisa Hirata

IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2024

DOI Bib HTML PDF

@article{terayama2024concept,
  title = {Concept and prototype development of adaptive touch walking support robot for maximizing human physical potential},
  author = {Terayama, Junya and Ravankar, Ankit A and Luces, Jose Victorio Salazar and Tafrishi, Seyed Amir and Hirata, Yasuhisa},
  journal = {IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
  year = {2024},
  type = {article},
  doi = {https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2024.3415928},
  publisher = {IEEE}
}

Semantic-based Multi-Object Search Optimization in Service Robots Using Probabilistic and Contextual Priors

Akash Chikhalikar, Ankit A Ravankar, Jose Victorio Salazar Luces, and Yasuhisa Hirata

IEEE Access, 2024

DOI Bib HTML

@article{chikhalikar2024semantic,
  title = {Semantic-based Multi-Object Search Optimization in Service Robots Using Probabilistic and Contextual Priors},
  author = {Chikhalikar, Akash and Ravankar, Ankit A and Luces, Jose Victorio Salazar and Hirata, Yasuhisa},
  journal = {IEEE Access},
  year = {2024},
  publisher = {IEEE},
  type = {article},
  doi = {10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3444478}
}