[The_Colonel]

At first, I thought this makes the problem of finding the optimal path rather easy, but on a second thought it's not, because the algorithm needs to take into account exact properties (max speed, acceleration/deceleration, turning), so each model of mouse may have dramatically different optimal routes.

I also imagine that mice will have a certain aggressiveness setting, perhaps even switching to a different route, using which you can achieve higher speed at the risk of a crash. It would be interesting to see if there are some strategies around it.