Cooperative Path Planning for Multiple Mobile Robots via HAFSA and an Expansion Logic Strategy

Abstract

The cooperative path planning problem of multiple mobile robots in an unknown indoor environment is considered in this article. We presented a novel obstacle avoidance and real-time navigation algorithm. The proposed approach consisted of global path planning and local path planning via HAFSA (hybrid artificial fish swarm algorithm) and an expansion logic strategy. Meanwhile, a kind of scoring function was developed, which shortened the time of local path planning and improved the decision-making ability of the path planning algorithm. Finally, using STDR (simple two dimensional robot simulator) and RVIZ (robot operating system visualizer), a multiple mobile robot simulation platform was designed to verify the presented real-time navigation algorithm. Simulation experiments were performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed path planning method for multiple mobile robots.