Autonomous Robot Navigates Like A Human
July 1st, 2009
European researchers have developed a robot capable of moving autonomously using human-like visual processing. The robot is helping researchers explore how the brain responds to its environment while the body is moving. The end result may be machines that are better able to navigate through cluttered environments.
The robot is a wheeled platform with a robotic head that uses two cameras for stereoscopic vision. It can turn its head and shift its gaze up and down or sideways to check out its surroundings, and can measure its own speed relative to its environment.
The robot is controlled by algorithms designed to mimic different parts of the human visual system. Instead of capturing and mapping its surroundings over and over in order to plan its route, the way most robots do, this robot uses a simulated neural network to update its position relative to the environment, continually adjusting to each new input. So it mimics human visual processing and movement planning.
