State-chain sequential feedback reinforcement learning for path planning of autonomous mobile robots

In view of biogeography-based optimization algorithm has the disadvantages of application limitations and slow convergence speed when in solving the problem of mobile robot path planning. This paper proposes an improved biogeography-based optimization algorithm, which is used to solve the global path planning of mobile robot in static environment. In the proposed algorithm, the navigation point model is selected as the working area model of mobile robot, and the nonlinear migration model and mutation mechanism with the elite retention mechanism are introduced to the biogeography-based optimization algorithm to improve its performance. Simulation proves the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed path planning algorithm.

Mobile robot path planning in an unknown environment is a fundamental and challenging problem in the field of robotics. Dynamic window approach (DWA) is an effective method of local path planning, however some of its evaluation functions are inadequate and the algorithm for choosing the weights of these functions is lacking, which makes it highly dependent on the global reference and prone to fail in an unknown environment. In this paper, an improved DWA based on Q-learning is proposed. First, the original evaluation functions are modified and extended by adding two new evaluation functions to enhance the performance of global navigation. Then, considering the balance of effectiveness and speed, we define the state space, action space and reward function of the adopted Q-learning algorithm for the robot motion planning. After that, the parameters of the proposed DWA are adaptively learned by Q-learning and a trained agent is obtained to adapt to the unknown environment. At last, by a series of comparative simulations, the proposed method shows higher navigation efficiency and successful rate in the complex unknown environment. The proposed method is also validated in experiments based on XQ-4 Pro robot to verify its navigation capability in both static and dynamic environment.

A new complete coverage path planning algorithm based on rolling path planning, dynamic heuristic searching and directly filling is proposed to improve efficiency of path planning for mobile robot in unknown environments. The biological inspired neural network was used to model the environment of mobile robot. After the characteristic of local environment around robot was identified on line, the dynamic heuristic planning method combing static searching and following the boundary of obstacle is applied and generated path is much shorter and less turning. Using virtual obstacle and directly filling algorithm, the continuously covered area in U shape obstacle is obtained in unknown environments. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is validated by simulation in unknown complicated environments.

In this paper, the ant colony optimization (ACO) metaheuristic is proposed to solve the mobile robot path planning (MRPP) problem. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of ACO in solving the MRPP problem, several maps of varying complexity used by an earlier researcher is used for evaluation. Each map consists of static obstacles and walls in different arrangements. Besides that, each map has a grid representation with an equal number of rows and columns. These maps have a starting point and a destination as well. At the beginning of the problem, the ants (representing the mobile robot) are placed at the starting point. The ants would then have to find their way towards the destination whilst avoiding all the obstacles and walls along the way. The ants should also do so with the shortest distance possible. The performance of the proposed ACO metaheuristic is tested on a given set of maps and the results are compared with those reported in the literature. The performance of the proposed ACO metaheuristic is found to be better than the result reported in the literature.

Path planning is one of the most important and challenging problems of mobile robot. It is one of the keys that will make the mobile robots fully autonomous. In this paper, we summarized the application of soft computing approaches in path planning for mobile robot. Finally the future works of path planning for mobile robots are prospected.

On-line path planning for autonomous mobile robots using recurrent neural networks

The RRT algorithm and the heuristic function are combined in the mobile robot path planning, so a novel path planning is proposed. Based on the dynamic model and kinematic constraints of the nonholonomic mobile robot, a trajectory tracking controller is designed. Theory and calculation results prove that, as a new method for mobile robot path planning, the heuristic Rapidly-Exploring Random Tree for nonholonomic mobile robot path planning is feasible and effective.

In mobile robot research domain and especially in its path planning sub-domain, the optimization tools the most used are PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) and GA (Genetic Algorithms). In fact, mobile robot path planning is a multi-objective optimization problem where at least these objectives are considered: the shortest and the safest path to the goal. Sometimes other objectives are added like travel duration. The subject of this paper is a comparison investigation concerning the efficiency of PSO and GA in mobile robot path planning optimization. We start with a comparison of evolutionary performances of PSO and GA. Then, we apply PSO and GA in the optimization of parameters of DVSF\(^{2}\) (Dynamic Variable Speed Force Field) path planning approach. Different environments of different types, statics and dynamics are considered in these simulations to decide which is better for mobile robot path planning optimization: PSO or GA.

Ant colony optimization (ACO) technique is proposed to solve the mobile robot path planning (MRPP) problem. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of ACO in solving the MRPP problem, several maps of varying complexity used by an earlier researcher is used for evaluation. Each map consists of static obstacles in different arrangements. Besides that, each map has a grid representation with an equal number of rows and columns. The performance of the proposed ACO is tested on a given set of maps. Overall, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for path planning.

Based on the artificial potential field algorithm and bacterial foraging algorithm, research method for obstacle avoidance and path planning of the mobile robot. Firstly, analysis method of bacterial foraging three operations: trends, replication, migration, establishment of bacterial foraging algorithm process; secondly establish the bacterial foraging algorithm model; and then analyze the artificial potential field algorithm and bacterial foraging the advantage and disadvantage of the algorithm, proposed a new hybrid algorithm has the global search ability and fast convergence. Using artificial potential field and bacterial foraging method on mobile robot global path planning and then compared with the mixture algorithm, based on the simulation results, the global path planning of mobile robot Simulation results show the feasibility and effectiveness of the hybrid algorithm.

Background: Path planning technology has a wide range of applications in many fields. Applications in the field of high technology include: autonomous and touchless action of robots; obstacle avoidance and defense flight of drones; cruise missiles to avoid radar search, anti- bouncing attacks, and to complete the task of sudden defense and demolition. Applications in daily life include: GPS navigation; road planning based on GIS system; urban road network planning and navigation. Applications in the field of decision-making management include: vehicle problem (VRP) in logistics management and similar resource allocation problems in resource management. Routing problems in the field of communication technology. Any planning problem that can be topologized as a point and line network can basically be solved by the method of path planning. Different intelligent algorithms have different characteristics, and their application scope and fields are also different, so it is of great significance for the development of path planning technology to study the path planning intelligent algorithms from the characteristics of the algorithms themselves and their applications. Objective: Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of various types of planning algorithms, look forward to the future development trend of mobile robot path planning, and provide certain ideas for the research of mobile robot path planning. Methods: Search journals, patents, conferences, and papers related to mobile robot path planning, and summarize and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of various planning algorithms. Results: Based on the research results of many scholars, this study summarizes different mobile robot path planning methods. It is divided into four categories: traditional planning, intelligent search, artificial intelligence and local obstacle avoidance. This paper introduces and analyzes the latest research results of these types, including their design ideas, advantages and disadvantages, and improvement measures. The research methods adopted are analyzed in order to maximize the advantages of each algorithm and expand the application field of robot path planning to provide ideas and references. Conclusion: This paper provides guidance for the design and optimization of robot path planning. Finally, this paper summarizes the future development trend of robot path planning, and looks forward to the future development trend and key areas of robot path planning.

The equilibrium optimizer (EO) is a recently developed physics-based optimization technique for complex optimization problems. Although the algorithm shows excellent exploitation capability, it still has some drawbacks, such as the tendency to fall into local optima and poor population diversity. To address these shortcomings, an enhanced EO algorithm is proposed in this paper. First, a spiral search mechanism is introduced to guide the particles to more promising search regions. Then, a new inertia weight factor is employed to mitigate the oscillation phenomena of particles. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, it has been tested on the CEC2017 test suite and the mobile robot path planning (MRPP) problem and compared with some advanced metaheuristic techniques. The experimental results demonstrate that our improved EO algorithm outperforms the comparison methods in solving both numerical optimization problems and practical problems. Overall, the developed EO variant has good robustness and stability and can be considered as a promising optimization tool.

Artificial Potential Filed (APF) is the most well-known method that is used in mobile robot path planning, however, the shortcoming is that the local minima. To overcome this issue, we present a deadlock free APF based path planning algorithm for mobile robot navigation. The Proposed-APF (P-APF) algorithm searches the goal point in unknown 2D environments. This method is capable of escaping from deadlock and non-reachability problems of mobile robot navigation. In this method, the effective front-face obstacle information associated with the velocity direction is used to modify the Traditional APF (T-APF) algorithm. This modification solves the deadlock problem that the T-APF algorithm often converges to local minima. The proposed algorithm is explained in details and to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the simulation experiments were carried out in the MATLAB environment. Furthermore, the numerical analysis of the proposed approach is given to prove a deadlock free motion of the mobile robot.

For the issues of the ant colony algorithm (ACO) to solving the problems in mobile robot path planning, such as the slow optimization speed and the redundant paths in planning results, a high-precision improved ant colony algorithm (IPACO) with fast optimization and compound prediction mechanism is proposed. Firstly, aiming at maximizing the possibility of optimal node selection in the process of path planning, a composite optimal node prediction model is introduced to improve the state transition function. Secondly, a pheromone model with initialize the distribution and “reward or punishment” update mechanism is used to updates the global pheromone concentration directionally, which increases the pheromone concentration of excellent path nodes and the heuristic effect; Finally, a prediction-backward mechanism to deal with the “deadlock” problem in the ant colony search process is adopted in the IPACO algorithm, which enhance the success rate in the ACO algorithm path planning. Five groups of different environments are selected to compare and verify the performance of IPACO algorithm, ACO algorithm and three typical path planning algorithms. The experimental simulation results show that, compared with the ACO algorithm, the convergence speed and the planning path accuracy of the IPACO algorithm are improved by 57.69% and 12.86% respectively, and the convergence speed and the planning path accuracy are significantly improved; the optimal path length, optimization speed and stability of the IPACO algorithm are improved. Which verifies that the IPACO algorithm can effectively improve the environmental compatibility and stability of the ant colony algorithm path planning, and the effect is significantly improved.

Path planning is an essential algorithm in any autonomous mobile robot, including agricultural robots. One of the reinforcement learning methods that can be used for mobile robot path planning is the Q-Learning algorithm. However, the conventional Q-learning method explores all possible robot states in order to find the most optimum path. Thus, this method requires extensive computational cost especially when there are considerable grids to be computed. This study modified the original Q-Learning algorithm by removing the impassable area, so that these areas are not considered as grids to be computed. This modified Q-Learning method was simulated as path finding algorithm for autonomous mobile robot operated at the Agribusiness and Technology Park (ATP), IPB University. Two simulations were conducted to compare the original Q-Learning method and the modified Q-Learning method. The simulation results showed that the state reductions in the modified Q-Learning method can lower the computation cost to 50.71% from the computation cost of the original Q-Learning method, that is, an average computation time of 25.74s as compared to 50.75s, respectively. Both methods produce similar number of states as the robot’s optimal path, i.e. 56 states, based on the reward obtained by the robot while selecting the path. However, the modified Q-Learning algorithm is capable of finding the path to the destination point with a minimum learning rate parameter value of 0.2 when the discount factor value is 0.9.