An Ant Colony Algorithm Based on Grid Method for Mobile Robot Path Planning

Abstract

A bionics algorithm for robot path planning in static environment is proposed, in which the environmental models are established with grid method, the foraging behavior of ant colonies is simulated and optimal path search is finished by many ants cooperatively. Furthermore, the strategies of probabilistic search, nearest neighbor search and a goal guiding function are applied to enable the searching to be rapid and efficient. Results of simulation experiments demonstrate that the best path can be found in short time, real-time planning can be achieved, and the effect is very satisfying even if the geographic conditions with obstacles are exceedingly complicated.