Animal and robot navigation

It is argued that the following three properties are foundations of robust robot navigation: The use of landmarks (and, in particular, the use of a compass sense), the use of canonical paths, and the use of topological rather than geometrical maps. Some examples of successful animal navigation are presented that support this view. We have performed initial experiments with mobile robots to investigate mechanisms suitable to implement such navigational architectures. Experiments concerning navigation by dead reckoning are presented, and a diierential light compass is introduced to aid robot navigation.