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CAVE-NAV: VLM-Based Autonomous 3D Navigation in Underwater Cave Environments

arXiv · AI, language, vision and robotics · article · Aug 28, 2026 · UTC

Autonomous navigation in underwater cave environments is essential for search-and-rescue operations, scientific exploration, and emergency egress. Traditional navigation systems commonly depend on dense visual features for localization and mapping. In underwater caves, however, visual degradation can undermine feature-based localization, sonar-based mapping may yield overly conservative obstacle representations, and communication constraints preclude real-time human guidance. To address these limitations, we propose an autonomous underwater cave navigation framework that leverages a vision-lan

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