Behavioral match evaluation of spatial cognition in rats and robots

In this paper we present a comparative behavioral analysis of spatial cognition in rats and robots by contrasting a similar goal-oriented task in a cyclical maze, where a computational system-level model of rat spatial cognition is used integrating kinesthetic and visual information to produce a cognitive map of the environment and drive robot experimentation. A discussion of experiments in rats and robots is presented contrasting learning latency while characterizing behavioral procedures such as body rotations during navigation and election of routes to the goal.