How Robots Solve Mazes

I have never built a robot that can drive through a maze and solve it, but I know that there are some algorithms to do so.  Over at the blog PATRICK MCCABE MAKES, Patrick shows a great, relatively simple algorithm to solve the maze using a technique he calls "left hand on the wall."

The robot travels through the maze once and maps a fairly good portion of it until it gets to the finish.  And then using a system to process the map, he is able to have his robot find a shorter way through the maze.  Then using that information, the robot easily navigates the maze in quick fashion.  It's an easy to read tutorial.  I like it a lot.  I don't think it is the most efficient way to solve a maze, and I think that using this method might not always take the very best route, but it will certainly get to the finish.

Click here to zoom over to his site.