While moving robots find their way in their environment by GPS, researchers have now constructed one that navigates like a Desert Ant.

Desert ants use the polarized pattern of skylight and combine this with an estimation of the distance traveled based on how many steps they took and to the rate at which the ground moves across the eye. The newly developed robot uses these principles successfully, as indicated by the mean homing error of only 0.67%.

Thus, it seems possible to use the strategies found in ants for robotics, and could be combined with already existing techniques, researchers say.

Read the full story: CNRS
Scientific publication: Science Robotics