Avoiding the past: a simple but effective strategy for reactive navigation

Reactive navigation methods, which eliminate or minimize the use of memory, are considered, focusing on problems that still present a challenge to reactive strategies (box canyons, for example). It is shown that the addition of a local spatial memory that allows a robot to avoid areas that have already been visited offers a solution to the box canyon and other navigational problems. Such a strategy has been implemented using a spatial memory within a schema-based motor control model. Experiments have produced promising results in simulation and on mobile robots.<<ETX>>