Perception-based navigation through weak chaos control

In this paper a new navigation control strategy based on neurophysiological studies on perception is introduced. The underlying idea is that perception can be represented by chaotic attractors whose dynamical evolution depends on sensorial stimuli. To achieve this goal sensors equipped on a robot are associated with reference trajectories controlling the chaotic system (a multiscroll system) with a new technique based on Pyragas control, but extended to multi-reference signals. This technique is called weak chaos control, since applied to the multiscroll system allows us to obtain periodic orbits never shown by the uncontrolled system. This represents a key issue in the representation of perception under the concurrent control of different sensorial stimuli. The approach has been successfully applied to a roving robot model.