Navigation in Large-scale Environments Using an Augmented Model of Visual Homing
Lincoln Smith, Andy Philippides and Phil Husbands
Simulation of Adaptive Behavior 2006 (SAB 2006)
Rome, Italy, 25-29 September 2006
Summary
Several models have been proposed for the visual homing behaviour of insects. These work well in small-scale environments but their performance usually degrades significantly when the scale of the environment is increased. We address this problem by extending one such algorithm, the average landmark vector (ALV) model by using a novel approach to waypoint selection during the construction of multi-leg routes for visual homing. The procedure works by locating the boundaries between visual locales and placing waypoints at them. The design of the algorithm was guided by observation of insect behaviour in order to retain biological plausibility. Using this approach, a simulated agent is shown to be capable of significantly better autonomous exploration and navigation through large-scale environments than the standard ALV or the snapshot homing algorithms.