This paper presents UniPilot, a compact hardware-software autonomy payload that can be integrated across diverse robot embodiments to enable autonomous operation in GPS-denied environments. The system integrates a multi-modal sensing suite including LiDAR, radar, vision, and inertial sensing for robust operation in conditions where uni-modal approaches may fail. UniPilot runs a complete autonomy software comprising multi-modal perception, exploration and inspection path planning, and learning-based navigation policies. The payload provides robust localization, mapping, planning, and safety and control capabilities in a single unit that can be deployed across a wide range of platforms. A large number of experiments are conducted across diverse environments and on a variety of robot platforms to validate the mapping, planning, and safe navigation capabilities enabled by the payload.
@article{arxiv.2509.11793,
title = {UniPilot: Enabling GPS-Denied Autonomy Across Embodiments},
author = {Mihir Kulkarni and Mihir Dharmadhikari and Nikhil Khedekar and Morten Nissov and Mohit Singh and Philipp Weiss and Kostas Alexis},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.11793},
year = {2025}
}