A biologically inspired model based on a multi-scale spatial representation for goal-directed navigation

• Weilong Li,
• Dewei Wu,
• Jia Du,
• Yang Zhou,

Vol. 11, No. 3, March 30, 2017
10.3837/tiis.2017.03.013, Download Paper (Free):

• Place cells
• Q-learning
• spatial cognition
• goal-directed navigation

Abstract

Inspired by the multi-scale nature of hippocampal place cells, a biologically inspired model based on a multi-scale spatial representation for goal-directed navigation is proposed in order to achieve robotic spatial cognition and autonomous navigation. First, a map of the place cells is constructed in different scales, which is used for encoding the spatial environment. Then, the firing rate of the place cells in each layer is calculated by the Gaussian function as the input of the Q-learning process. The robot decides on its next direction for movement through several candidate actions according to the rules of action selection. After several training trials, the robot can accumulate experiential knowledge and thus learn an appropriate navigation policy to find its goal. The results in simulation show that, in contrast to the other two methods(G-Q, S-Q), the multi-scale model presented in this paper is not only in line with the multi-scale nature of place cells, but also has a faster learning potential to find the optimized path to the goal. Additionally, this method also has a good ability to complete the goal-directed navigation task in large space and in the environments with obstacles.

Statistics

Cite this article