A navigating rat animat

Ball, David, Heath, Scott, Milford, Michael, Wyeth, Gordon and Wiles, Janet (2010). A navigating rat animat. In: Harold Fellermann, Mark Dörr, Martin M. Hanczyc, Lone Ladegaard Laursen, Sarah Maurer, Daniel Merkle, Pierre-Alain Monnard, Kasper Stoy and Steen Rasmussen, Artificial Life XII: Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems. Artificial Life XII: 12th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems, Odense, Denmark, (804-811). 19-23 August 2010.

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Author Ball, David
Heath, Scott
Milford, Michael
Wyeth, Gordon
Wiles, Janet
Title of paper A navigating rat animat
Conference Paper Type Fully Published Paper
Conference name Artificial Life XII: 12th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems    (ERA 2010 Rank A)
Conference location Odense, Denmark
Conference dates 19-23 August 2010
Convener Center for Fundamental Living Technology
Proceedings title Artificial Life XII: Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems
Editor Harold Fellermann
Mark Dörr
Martin M. Hanczyc
Lone Ladegaard Laursen
Sarah Maurer
Daniel Merkle
Pierre-Alain Monnard
Kasper Stoy
Steen Rasmussen
Place published Cambridge, MA, United States
Publisher MIT Press
Publication date 2010
ISBN 9780262290753
0262290758
Start page 804
End page 811
Total pages 8
Collection year 2011
Language eng
Abstract/Summary This paper presents a new rat animat, a rat-sized bio-inspired robot platform currently being developed for embodied cognition and neuroscience research. The rodent animat is 150mm x 80mm x 70mm and has a differential drive, visual, proximity, and odometry sensors, x86 PC, and LCD interface. The rat animat has a bio-inspired rodent navigation and mapping system called RatSLAM which demonstrates the capabilities of the platform and framework. A case study is presented of the robot's ability to learn the spatial layout of a figure of eight laboratory environment, including its ability to close physical loops based on visual input and odometry. A firing field plot similar to rodent „non-conjunctive grid cells‟ is shown by plotting the activity of an internal network. Having a rodent animat the size of a real rat allows exploration of embodiment issues such as how the robot's sensori-motor systems and cognitive abilities interact. The initial observations concern the limitations of the design as well as its strengths. For example, the visual sensor has a narrower field of view and is located much closer to the ground than for other robots in the lab, which alters the salience of visual cues and the effectiveness of different visual filtering techniques. The small size of the robot relative to corridors and open areas impacts on the possible trajectories of the robot. These perspective and size issues affect the formation and use of the cognitive map, and hence the navigation abilities of the rat animat.
Q-Index Code E1
Q-Index Status Confirmed Code
Institutional Status UQ
Additional Notes Presented in Robotics Session

Document type: Conference Paper
Sub-type: Fully Published Paper
Collections: Official 2011 Collection
School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering Publications
 
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Created: Wed, 09 Feb 2011, 13:23:15 EST by Dr David Ball on behalf of School of Information Technol and Elec Engineering