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Imagine you are in a random place in your neighborhood. You wouldn’t need a map (or your smartphone) to find your way home. You would just know the way because the map of your neighborhood is stored in your brain. But where in your brain? And how can your neurons conjure up a map? In this course we will examine common themes and disparate insights that different disciplines have produced in the pursuit of these questions. Cognitive and behavioral studies across many species have inferred external and internal factors determining a mental “cognitive” map, what type of spatial knowledge it is likely to comprise, and how it is used by the organism. Moreover, the discovery of different classes of spatially modulated neurons in the mammalian brain has illuminated components of the neural architecture of the cognitive map and was recognized by the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Finally, progress in autonomous robot navigation has yielded lovely technological products (Roomba, or the promise of self-driving cars!), but also unique insights into the computational nature of self-localization and map learning. By the end of this course, you will have developed a critical appreciation of the multi-disciplinary inroads made into one of the most fascinating case studies for understanding the physical basis of cognition.