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INFORMATION ACQUISITION IN DESERT ANT NAVIGATION

JUN GAO

Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, 230031, P. R. China

School of Computer and Information, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei Anhui, 230009, P. R. China

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LEI WANG

School of Computer and Information, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei Anhui, 230009, P. R. China

Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen Fujian, 361005, P. R. China

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MEI BO

School of Computer and Information, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei Anhui, 230009, P. R. China

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ZHIGUO FAN

School of Computer and Information, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei Anhui, 230009, P. R. China

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219878906000800Cited by:6 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

Desert ant (Cataglyphis) is famous for its ability in navigation. In deserts with very few visual and odor information, the ant can return to its den almost along a straight line after foraging away in a distance of much more than thousands of times longer than its body length. Several kinds of information must be acquired during its trip, and the most important two are: path integration and visual navigation. Path integration is achieved by using sky light compass based on polarized light and odometer, while visual navigation relies on landmark based memory and matching. In this paper, a survey of research work on desert ant navigation from the viewpoint of information acquisition and fusion is presented, as well as the application of these kinds of information to navigate robots, especially bionic robots cruising in strange environment.

Project supported by National Basic Research Program (No. 2006CB300407), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 60575028, 60375011) and Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (No. 04042044); Supported by Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University.

Keywords:

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