Animals quickly acquire spatial knowledge and are thereby able to navigate over very large regions. These natural methods dramatically outperform current algorithms for robotic navigation, which are either limited to small regions (Arleo 2000) or require huge computational resources to maintain a globally consistent spatial map (Thrun 2002). We have now developed a novel system for mobile robotic navigation that like its biological counterpart decomposes explored space into a distributed

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... al network of behaviorally significant places. Each such a place is represented by an independent "place agent" (PA) that actively maintains the spatial and behavioral knowledge relevant for navigation in that place.