Informative Path Planning

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Overview

Informative path planning studies how robots should move and sense to reduce uncertainty, find targets, build maps, or monitor changing environments. Common approaches score routes using mutual information, entropy reduction, Gaussian-process beliefs, or Fisher information, then optimize them with receding-horizon search, trajectory optimization, or multi-robot coordination. Recent methods also incorporate semantic beliefs, learned planners, communication limits, and physical constraints such as energy, sampling load, and hazard exposure. A central challenge is balancing information value against computation and mission cost, especially when beliefs are poorly calibrated, observations overlap, or multiple robots must coordinate.

Latest papers

CardsList

36 papers5 papers in the last four weeks, up 67% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. Information-Driven Collaborative Autonomy for Heterogeneous UAV/UGV Teams

    Oct 29, 2026Joshua Yuriv PilipovskyUAV Trajectory OptimizationDecentralized Multi-Agent Motion Planning

    Senior Research Engineer, RTX Technology Research Center (RTRC), East Hartford, CT 06108, USA

  2. Optimally Trading Energy for Information through Speed Trajectory Optimization of Sustainably Powered Mobile Robots

    Oct 14, 2026Kavin M. Govindarajan, Dimitra Panagou, Chris VermillionTrajectory OptimizationOptimal Control

    Department of Robotics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA · Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

  3. Clarity-Driven Adaptive Mission Planning for a Solar-Powered Autonomous Surface Vessel

    Oct 14, 2026Kavin M. Govindarajan, Kaleb Ben Naveed, David Li +5Informative Path PlanningMotion Planning

    Kavin M. Govindarajan and Kaleb Ben Naveed are with the Department of Robotics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA · David Li is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA · Devansh R. Agrawal is a graduate of the Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA +1

  4. Mobility-Budget-Constrained Submodular Maximization for Distributed Semantic Multi-Robot Exploration

    Oct 13, 2026Changxuan Yao, Sandilya Sai Garimella, Lu Gan +1Multi-Robot ExplorationInformative Path Planning

    The authors are with the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.

  5. GPU-Accelerated Path-Dependent Marginal Information Gain for Autonomous Exploration

    Sep 30, 2026João Félix Mendes, Rodrigo Ventura, Meysam BasiriGPU AccelerationRobot Navigation

    Institute for Systems and Robotics, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa, Portugal

  6. Calibrated Uncertainty for Informative Path Planning in Aquatic Environmental Monitoring

    Sep 28, 2026Samuel Yanes Luis, Alejandro Casado Pérez, Alejandro Mendoza Barrionuevo +3Informative Path PlanningDeep Ensembles

    Department of Electronic Technology, University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain · Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain

  7. Spatial-Semantic Uncertainty in VLM-Based Target Search: Balancing Exploration and Identification

    Sep 17, 2026Alkesh K. Srivastava, Jonathan Diller, Vijay Kumar +1Belief-Space PlanningVision-Language Models

    Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 19122 USA · University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104 USA

  8. When Information is Worth the Risk: Behavioral Valuation for Hazardous Robotic Exploration

    Sep 9, 2026Alkesh K. Srivastava, Aamodh Suresh, Carlos Nieto-Granda +1Value of InformationInformative Path Planning

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA · U.S. DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD 20783, USA · Lobster Robotics, The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands

  9. Multi-robot Learning-based Informative Path Planning Using Spatio-Temporal Gaussian Process Kalman Filter

    Aug 31, 2026Muqing Cao, Yunwoo Lee, Junbin Yuan +2Informative Path PlanningBayesian Filtering

    Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. · Engineering Systems and Design Pillar, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore. · Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Daegu, South Korea.

  10. Switched Turn-based Adaptive Source Seeking Strategy using Estimation and Information-driven Direction of Improvement

    Aug 24, 2026Shubhra Banerjee, Satadal GhoshInformative Path Planning

    Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India

  11. Expected Free Energy-based Informative Path Planning for Robotic Mars Exploration

    Aug 14, 2026Ajith Anil Meera, Pablo Lanillos, Wouter KouwExpected Free EnergyInformative Path Planning

    TU Eindhoven, The Netherlands · Cajal Centre for Neuroscience, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid, Spain

  12. Autonomous UAV Route Planning for Coverage Maximization in Environmental Monitoring: A Systematic Literature Review

    Jul 3, 2026Sebastian Jouannet-Contreras, Carola Figueroa-FloresMulti-Robot Motion PlanningInformative Path Planning

    Master Program in Computer Science Universidad del Bío-Bío Chillán, Chile · Dept. of Computer Science and Information Technology Universidad del Bío-Bío Chillán, Chile

  13. He3-Seeker: Robotic Information Planning for Lunar Helium-3 Distribution Mapping

    Jun 27, 2026Dong Li, Yujie Zheng, Chengdeng Cao +4Space RoboticsInformative Path Planning

    Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, and also with the Faculty of Innovation Engineering, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau · OpenSpace Lab, China · College of Artificial Intelligence, China University of Petroleum (Beijing) +5

  14. Semantic-Aware Autonomous Exploration for UAVs in Unknown Indoor Environments

    Jun 21, 2026Duc-Thien Nguyen, Ngoc Minh Do, Xiem HoangVan +1Robot NavigationInformative Path Planning

    University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam National University, 10000, Hanoi, Vietnam. · School of Information Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Nomi, 923-1211, Ishikawa, Japan.

  15. Active Sensing and Deferred-Decision Trajectory Optimization for Robust Target Identification

    Jun 21, 2026Farbod Siahkali, Mengxue Hou, Vijay GuptaConstrained Motion PlanningTrajectory Optimization

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA · Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA

  16. DIFF-IPPO: Diffusion-Based Informative Path Planning with Open-Vocabulary Belief Maps

    Jun 15, 2026Sausar Karaf, Oleg Sautenkov, Mikhail Martynov +1Diffusion-Based PlanningInformative Path Planning

    CDE, Skoltech, Bolshoy Boulevard, 30, bld. 1, Moscow 121205, Russia

  17. UGV-Conditioned Multi-UAV Informative Planning on a Shared Exposure Belief

    Jun 10, 2026Lars Oerlemans, Moji Shi, Marija PopovicInformative Path PlanningSafe Robot Navigation

    *Equal contribution. Authors are with the MAVLab, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft, The Netherlands.

  18. MPPI-based Informative Trajectory Planning for Search and Capture of Drifting Targets with ASVs

    Jun 10, 2026Sanjeev Ramkumar Sudha, Marija Popović, Erlend M. CoatesInformative Path PlanningUnmanned Surface Vehicle

    Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway · TU Delft, The Netherlands

  19. Multi-UAV Active Sensing with Information Gain-based Planning and Belief Fusion

    Jun 9, 2026S. Habibi, L. MarquesInformative Path PlanningActive Sensing

    Institute of Systems and Robotics University of Coimbra, 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal

  20. Trajectory Optimization in Single and Dual-UAV Bearing-Only Target Localization

    Jun 8, 2026Zhijian Xiao, Huayu Huang, Bin Li +2Trajectory OptimizationMetaheuristic Optimization

    College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China · Hunan Key Laboratory of Image Measurement and Visual Navigation, Changsha 410073, China

  21. Integrated Exploration-Aware UAV Route Optimization and Path Planning

    May 27, 2026Jimin Choi, Grant Stagg, Cameron K. Peterson +1Belief-Space PlanningTrajectory Optimization

    Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA · Department of Electrical Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA · Department of Aerospace Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

  22. Collaborative Navigation and Exploration with ββ-Sparse Gaussian Processes

    May 25, 2026Evangelos Psomiadis, Dipankar Maity, Panagiotis TsiotrasMulti-Robot SystemsRobot Navigation

    D. Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, USA · Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA

  23. Scout-Assisted Planning for Heterogeneous Robot Teams under Partially Known Environments

    May 21, 2026Hoang-Dung Bui, Abhish Khanal, Raihan Islam Arnob +1Robot NavigationInformative Path Planning

    George Mason University

  24. Bayesian Networks for Path-Based Sensors: Gathering Information and Path Planning in Communication Denied Environments

    May 15, 2026Alkesh K. Srivastava, George P. Kontoudis, Donald Sofge +1Bayesian NetworksInformative Path Planning

    University of Maryland, College Park, MD, US. · Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, US. · Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, US. +1

  25. An Efficient Beam Search Algorithm for Active Perception in Mobile Robotics

    Apr 25, 2026Kaixian Qu, Han Wang, Victor Klemm +2Active PerceptionMobile Robotics

    Robotic Systems Lab, ETH Zurich

  26. Paparazzo: Active Mapping of Moving 3D Objects

    Apr 21, 2026Davide Allegro, Shiyao Li, Stefano Ghidoni +1Next-Best-View PlanningInformative Path Planning

    University of Padova · 2LIGM, ´Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chauss´ees, IP Paris, Univ Gustave Eiffel, CNRS

  27. Multi-Step Gaussian Process Propagation for Adaptive Path Planning

    Apr 21, 2026Alex Beaudin, Bjørn Andreas Kristiansen, Kristoffer Gryte +4Informative Path PlanningMotion Planning

    Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA · Department of Engineering Cybernetics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491, Norway · Department of Electronic Systems, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491, Norway

  28. PRoID: Predicted Rate of Information Delivery in Multi-Robot Exploration and Relaying

    Apr 12, 2026Seungchan Kim, Seungjae Baek, Micah Corah +3Multi-Robot ExplorationMulti-Robot Coordination

    Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute · Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology · Colorado School of Mines +2

  29. REST: Receding Horizon Explorative Steiner Tree for Zero-Shot Object-Goal Navigation

    Mar 19, 2026Shuqi Xiao, Maani Ghaffari, Chengzhong Xu +1Zero-Shot LearningLarge Language Model-Based Robot Planning

    State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City (SKL-IOTSC), University of Macau · Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and Department of Robotics, University of Michigan

  30. Coverage First Next Best View for Inspection of Cluttered Pipe Networks Using Mobile Manipulators

    Mar 17, 2026Joshua Raymond Bettles, Jiaxu Wu, Bruno Vilhena Adorno +2Chance-Constrained Motion PlanningRobotic Inspection

    Manchester Centre for Robotics and AI, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. · The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.