Online map formation and path planning for mobile robot by associative memory with controllable attention

In the present study, we aim at on-line planning for realtime navigation of a mobile robot. To realize this, we consider map formation in an unknown environment and an on-line path search on the obtained map. In the map learning process, the symbol map is constructed by the allocation of a location symbol based on the discretization of the range sensor signal and the association of the neighboring relations to the location symbol. In addition, the mis allocation of symbols caused by sensory aliasing is corrected based on the prediction by neighboring relation. For the path search on the symbol map, the landmark view pattern is associated with the location symbol. We realized efficient path search by a method using the similarity of landmark view patterns.