A robot comprises a plurality of sensors on a mobile chassis and may move about an environment in which people may be expected to follow particular cultural conventions. Movement of the robot may be constrained to honor these cultural conventions that are appropriate for the people in the environment. For example, when the robot is used within the United States, the robot tends to move along the right-hand side of a hallway. In comparison, when the robot is used within Japan the robot tends to move along the left-hand side of the hallway. The cultural conventions may be implemented as one-way gates present at specified locations in an occupancy map of the environment. The gates have no physical presence in the environment, but have the effect of placing a constraint on where the robot is permitted to move.