# Spiking Neural Network on Neuromorphic Hardware for Energy-Efficient Unidimensional SLAM

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.02504 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.02504/

## Key facts

- Cited by 19 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 6 Mar 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 19 of 19)

- [Semantics for Robotic Mapping, Perception and Interaction: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.00443/) (2021)
- [A Spiking Neural Network for Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.08921/) (2021)
- [Spiking Neural Networks for Visual Place Recognition via Weighted Neuronal Assignments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.06452/) (2021)
- [Fusing Event-based Camera and Radar for SLAM Using Spiking Neural Networks with Continual STDP Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.04236/) (2022)
- [Increasing Liquid State Machine Performance with Edge-of-Chaos Dynamics Organized by Astrocyte-modulated Plasticity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.01760/) (2021)
- [Applications of Spiking Neural Networks in Visual Place Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.13186/) (2023)
- [Ensembles of Compact, Region-specific & Regularized Spiking Neural Networks for Scalable Place Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.08723/) (2022)
- [Fully Spiking Neural Network for Legged Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.05022/) (2023)
- [BioGrad: Biologically Plausible Gradient-Based Learning for Spiking Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14092/) (2021)
- [Including STDP to eligibility propagation in multi-layer recurrent spiking neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.07602/) (2022)
- [Bio-inspired spike-based Hippocampus and Posterior Parietal Cortex models for robot navigation and environment pseudo-mapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.12892/) (2023)
- [Bayesian inference for data-efficient, explainable, and safe robotic motion planning: A review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.08024/) (2023)
- [Threshold Adaptation in Spiking Networks Enables Shortest Path Finding and Place Disambiguation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.21795/) (2025)
- [Combining Bayesian Inference and Reinforcement Learning for Agent Decision Making: A Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.07911/) (2025)
- [Population-Coded Spiking Neural Networks for High-Dimensional Robotic Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.10516/) (2025)
- [A Novel Neuromorphic Processors Realization of Spiking Deep Reinforcement Learning for Portfolio Management](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.14159/) (2022)
- [EEGSN: Towards Efficient Low-latency Decoding of EEG with Graph Spiking Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07655/) (2023)
- [On the Adversarial Robustness of Spiking Neural Networks Trained by Local Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.08897/) (2025)
- [Robust PnP on a Neuromorphic Processor for Object Pose Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.16834/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Energy-efficient simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is crucial for mobile robots exploring unknown environments. The mammalian brain solves SLAM via a network of specialized neurons, exhibiting asynchronous computations and event-based communications, with very low energy consumption. We propose a brain-inspired spiking neural network (SNN) architecture that solves the unidimensional SLAM by introducing spike-based reference frame transformation, visual likelihood computation, and Bayesian inference. We integrated our neuromorphic algorithm to Intel's Loihi neuromorphic processor, a non-Von Neumann hardware that mimics the brain's computing paradigms. We performed comparative analyses for accuracy and energy-efficiency between our neuromorphic approach and the GMapping algorithm, which is widely used in small environments. Our Loihi-based SNN architecture consumes 100 times less energy than GMapping run on a CPU while having comparable accuracy in head direction localization and map-generation. These results pave the way for scaling our approach towards active-SLAM alternative solutions for Loihi-controlled autonomous robots.