Distributed Multi-Mobile Robot Path Planning and Obstacle Avoidance Based on ACO–DWA in Unknown Complex Terrain

Multi-robot systems are popularly distributed in logistics, transportation, and other fields. We propose a distributed multi-mobile robot obstacle-avoidance algorithm to coordinate the path planning and motion navigation among multiple robots and between robots and unknown territories. This algorithm fuses the ant colony optimization (ACO) and the dynamic window approach (DWA) to coordinate a multi-robot system through a priority strategy. Firstly, to ensure the optimality of robot motion in complex terrains, we proposed the dual-population heuristic functions and a sort ant pheromone update strategy to enhance the search capability of ACO, and the globally optimal path is achieved by a redundant point deletion strategy. Considering the robot’s path-tracking accuracy and local target unreachability problems, an adaptive navigation strategy is presented. Furthermore, we propose the obstacle density evaluation function to improve the robot’s decision-making difficulty in high-density obstacle environments and modify the evaluation function coefficients adaptively by combining environmental characteristics. Finally, the robots’ motion conflict is resolved by combining our obstacle avoidance and multi-robot priority strategies. The experimental results show that this algorithm can realize the cooperative obstacle avoidance of AGVs in unknown environments with high safety and global optimality, which can provide a technical reference for distributed multi-robot in practical applications.

Path planning for mobile robot using an enhanced ant colony optimization and path geometric optimization

Path planning of mobile robots in complex environments is the most challenging research. A hybrid approach combining the enhanced ant colony system with the local optimization algorithm based on path geometric features, called EACSPGO, has been presented in this study for mobile robot path planning. Firstly, the simplified model of pheromone diffusion, the pheromone initialization strategy of unequal allocation, and the adaptive pheromone update mechanism have been simultaneously introduced to enhance the classical ant colony algorithm, thus providing a significant improvement in the computation efficiency and the quality of the solutions. A local optimization method based on path geometric features has been designed to further optimize the initial path and achieve a good convergence rate. Finally, the performance and advantages of the proposed approach have been verified by a series of tests in the mobile robot path planning. The simulation results demonstrate that the presented EACSPGO approach provides better solutions, adaptability, stability, and faster convergence rate compared to the other tested optimization algorithms.

Optimal randomized path planning for redundant manipulators based on Memory-Goal-Biasing

Planning path rapidly and optimally is one of the key technologies for industrial manipulators. A novel method based on Memory-Goal-Biasing–Rapidly-exploring Random Tree is proposed to solve high-dimensional manipulation planning more rapidly and optimally. The tree extension of Memory-Goal-Biasing–Rapidly-exploring Random Tree can be divided into random extension and goal extension. In the goal extension, the nodes extended to the goal are recorded in a memory, and then the node closest to the goal is selected in the search tree excepting the nodes in the memory for overcoming the local minimum. In order to check collisions efficiently, the manipulator is simplified into several key points, and the obstacle area is appropriately enlarged for safety. Taking the redundant manipulator of Baxter robot as an example, the proposed algorithm is verified through MoveIt! software. The results show that Memory-Goal-Biasing–Rapidly-exploring Random Tree only takes a few seconds for the path planning of the redundant manipulator in some complex environments, and within an acceptable time, its optimization performance is better than that of traditional optimal method in terms of the obtained path costs and the corresponding standard deviation.

Human experience–inspired path planning for robots

In this article, we present a human experience–inspired path planning algorithm for service robots. In addition to considering the path distance and smoothness, we emphasize the safety of robot navigation. Specifically, we build a speed field in accordance with several human driving experiences, like slowing down or detouring at a narrow aisle, and keeping a safe distance to the obstacles. Based on this speed field, the path curvatures, path distance, and steering speed are all integrated to form an energy function, which can be efficiently solved by the A* algorithm to seek the optimal path by resorting to an admissible heuristic function estimated from the energy function. Moreover, a simple yet effective fast path smoothing algorithm is proposed so as to ease the robots steering. Several examples are presented, demonstrating the effectiveness of our human experience–inspired path planning method.