Solving uncertainty during robot navigation by integrating grid cell and place cell firing based on rat spatial cognition studies

The efficient resolution of spatial localization is a key challenge in autonomous mobile robots. We describe in this paper our latest work in understanding spatial localization based on rat behavioral and neural studies. We develop a grid cell neural model based on studies in the Medial Entorhinal Cortex that integrates to a place cell neural model in the Hippocampus to generate “neural odometry” and spatial localization in the rat. We evaluate the model through simulated and physical robot experiments using a Khepera III autonomous robot in a laboratory environment.