Python, Matlab and AI question

[dataangel]

I'm a student who's considering doing a project for a Machine Learning 
class on pathing (bots learning to run through a maze). The language 
primarily used by the class has been Matlab. I would prefer to do the 
bulk of the project in python because I'm familiar with pygame (for the 
visuals) but I already have a lot of AI code written in Matlab.

I'd like to be able to call Matlab code from within python. I'm not sure 
this is possible. My code runs in Octave just fine. I've heard about 
numerical python and scipy, but I'm not sure what tool is going to mean 
the least amount of recoding for me. At the very least I need to find a 
really fast package for matrix operations.

Anyone have any input on what the best tool for the job would be? I've 
googled, but I figure it's best to ask experience ;)