This system, built by Michael Milford and Gordon Wyeth at the University of Queensland in St. Lucia, gives vehicles the ability to explore and map their environment.
With rats, specialized neurons in the brain called "place," "head-direction" and "grid" tell the animal what direction it is facing and if the environment is a familiar one. By using a webcam that feeds video to the car as it moves, the car makes mental note of its surroundings and builds a map.
"When is revisits an area and recognizes a slightly altered view of a familiar landmark, it looks back over other landmarks it has recently passed to confirm its location, and updates the map accordingly," said an article on newscientist.com.
The system has successfully mapped a 66-kilometer road network in a suburb of Brisbane, Australia.
-Michael Strachan
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