A bioinspired approach to robot orientation or a real «ant» algorithm

The paper describes a bioinspired method of mobile robots navigation, similar to the navigation mechanism of social insects. The model species is the red forest ant Formica rufa. The scout red forest ant remembers the route to food and can transmit information about the food location to foraging ants. Foragers can on their own walk to the food and return home. These ants are guided by the skylight compass, odometry data and visual landmarks. The proposed method is based on memorizing the path by visual landmarks, compass data and time component. A path is defined as a sequence of scenes consisting of landmarks. The scout route and forager route are defined as transitions from one landmark to another. The created behavior model of an animate (robot) operates only with relative categories. The results of simulation modeling for solving the foraging problem are presented. The method has been tested on real robots. Due to specific architectural and technical solutions, the transition from simulation models to the management of technical objects (robots) is carried out without the stage of physical modeling. The method can also be used in reconnaissance and patrol tasks in group robotics.