Main description:

At the dawn of the new millennium, robotics is undergoing a major transformation in scope and dimension. From a largely dominant industrial focus, robotics is rapidly expanding into the challenges of unstructured environments. Interacting with, assi- ing, serving, and exploring with humans, the emerging robots will increasingly touch people and their lives. The goal of the new series of Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics (STAR) is to bring, in a timely fashion, the latest advances and developments in robotics on the basis of their significance and quality. It is our hope that the wider dissemination of research developments will stimulate more exchanges and collaborations among the research community and contribute to further advancement of this rapidly growing field. The monograph written by Michael Milford is yet another volume in the series devoted to one of the hottest research topics in the latest few years, namely Simul- neous Localization and Map Building (SLAM). The contents expand the author’s doctoral dissertation and describe the development of a robot mapping and navigation system inspired by models of the neural mechanisms underlying spatial navigation in the rodent hippocampus. One unique merit of the book lies in its truly interdisciplinary flavour, addressing a link between biology and artificial robotic systems that has been open for many years. To the best of my knowledge, this is the most thorough attempt to marry biological navigation in rodents and similar, with robotic navigation and SLAM. A very fine addition to our STAR series!

Feature:

"…one of the first serious explorations and implementations of bio-inspired navigation" Professor Hugh F Durrant-Whyte, Australian Research Council Federation Fellow

Presents pioneering work into understanding, designing, and implementing bio-inspired navigation techniques within a robotics context

First research to test existing models of rodent spatial mapping and navigation on robots in large, challenging, real world environments

"…an excellent summary of the state-of-the-art in robot navigation together with a good summary of work in modelling navigation in different animal species" Prof Hugh F Durrant-Whyte

Back cover:

This book describes the development of a robot mapping and navigation system inspired by models of the neural mechanisms underlying spatial navigation in the rodent hippocampus. Computational models of animal navigation systems have traditionally had limited performance when implemented on robots. The aim of the work was to determine the extent to which hippocampal models can be used to provide a robot with functional mapping and navigation capabilities in real world environments. The focus of the research was on achieving practical robot performance, rather than maintaining biological plausibility.

Contents:

Mapping and Navigation.- Robotic Mapping Methods.- Biological Navigation Systems.- Emulating Nature: Models of Hippocampus.- Robotic or Bio-inspired: A Comparison.- Pilot Study of a Hippocampal Model.- RatSLAM: An Extended Hippocampal Model.- Goal Memory: A Pilot Study.- Extending RatSLAM: The Experience Mapping Algorithm.- Exploration, Goal Recall, and Adapting to Change.- Discussion.