A Path Planning Technique for Autonomous Mobile Robot

This research aimed at development of a dynamic path planning technique for autonomous mobile robot using a modified bat algorithm. Autonomous mobile robots are programmable and mechanical device with the ability of moving from one location (called the source location) to another position (known as the target location) in an environment containing obstacles without human intervention. Thus, for a mobile robot to be autonomous, it has to be intelligent enough in perceiving the environment so as to acquire information in the environment and make decision based on it. Therefore, path planning becomes essential for the autonomous mobile robot to reach its target location. To achieve this, an objective function was modelled in form of distance function using the coordinates of the source and target locations. A path planning technique was then developed using modified bat algorithm that optimized the objective function to generate an optimal collision free motion path for the autonomous mobile robot. The performance of the developed algorithm was determined by implementing in an unknown static environment under different complexities of obstacles. The simulation result obtained showed that the path planning algorithm was effective for the control of autonomous mobile robot as it generated an optimal path without colliding with obstacles in different environment under different complexities as compared to results obtained using bat algorithm and ant colony optimization algorithm.

Keywords:

path planning , autonomous mobile robot , modified bat algorithm , obstacles , objective function