NorthStar helps robots find their way indoors

Evolution Robotics, the company responsible the Aibo's charging station-recognition software, have created an infrared navigation system called NorthStar.  With the system, each room is installed with a basic infrared beacon that allows the robot to know which room it is in or going to.  It also helps robots find the charging station before it's too late.  While robots like the Aibo are cool and all that, they have some major navigation flaws:
they don't remember the names of rooms or where they are, and they can sometimes get lost long enough to never find their charging station before electric death (running out of batteries).  NorthStar aims to fix this, making robots much more reliable house-roamers-when-you're-out.

[Via Near Near Future]