Cognitive Models of Spatial Navigation from a Robot Builder's Perspective

Complete physically embodied agents present a powerful medium for the investigation of cognitive models for spatial navigation. This article presents a maze-solving robot, called a micromouse, that parallels many of the behaviors found in its biological counterpart, the rat. A cognitive model of the robot is presented, and its limits are investigated. Limits are found to exist with respect to biological plausibility and robot applicability. It is proposed that the fundamental representations used to store and process information are the limiting factor. A review of the literature of current cognitive models reveals a lack of models suitable for implementation in real agents and proposes that available models fail as they have not been developed with real agents in mind. A solution to this conundrum is proposed in a list of guidelines for the development of future spatial models.