Jerry Petersen
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Applied Physics Laboratory are attempting to enhance the navigational algorithms of autonomous robotic swarms using discoveries related to dynamic replanning — the cognitive mechanism that allows animals to navigate while on the move.
The researchers will then study changes in the behavior of robotic swarms and use subsequent learnings to refine their understanding of how rodent brains operate when replanning paths, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory said in an announcement released Monday.
“We propose that individual robots in a group can be thought of as neurons in an animal’s brain. They interact with one another to form dynamic patterns that collectively signal locations in space and time, much in the same way brain rhythms do,†said SOM associate professor Kechen Zhang, the lead researcher in the study.
The research team is composed of collaborators from the APL including Robert Chalmers, a robotics researcher; Grace Hwang, a neuroscientist; and Kevin Schultz, an applied mathematician.
The project is funded by the National Science Foundation.
