Engineers at Purdue University are developing robots that are able to make "educated guesses" and are better predictors of their environment and are able to better navigate.

According to Professor C.S. George Lee, who specializes in robotics:

A software algorithm enables the robots to make partial maps using a laser rangefinder and an odometer as they travel through an environment for the first time, the researchers said. The robots then refer to that partial map to predict what lies ahead.

The more repetitive the environment, the more accurate the prediction -- and the easier it is for the robot to successfully navigate.

For example, it's going to be easier to navigate a parking garage using this map because every floor is the same or very similar, and the same could be said for some office buildings."

Findings are reported in the April issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

Find more details from the Purdue University press release.

[In Photo: C.S. George Lee, from left, a Purdue professor of electrical and computer engineering, works with doctoral student H. Jacky Chang to operate mobile robots using a software algorithm that enables robots to make "educated guesses" about what lies ahead as they traverse unfamiliar surroundings. The approach reduces the amount of time it takes to successfully navigate those environments. Future research will extend the concept to four robots working as a team to explore an unknown environment by sharing the mapped information through a wireless network. (Purdue News Service photo/David Umberger)]