A Safe Heuristic Path-Planning Method Based on a Search Strategy

Sensors (Basel). 2023 Dec 24;24(1):101. doi: 10.3390/s24010101.

Abstract

In industrial production, it is very difficult to make a robot plan a safe, collision-free, smooth path with few inflection points. Therefore, this paper presents a safe heuristic path-planning method based on a search strategy. This method first expands the scope of the search node, then calculates the node state based on the search strategy, including whether it is a normal or dangerous state, and calculates the danger coefficient of the corresponding point to select the path with a lower danger coefficient. At the same time, the optimal boundary is obtained by incorporating the environmental facilities, and the optimal path between the starting point, the optimal boundary point and the end point is obtained. Compared to the traditional A-star algorithm, this method achieved significant improvements in various aspects such as path length, execution time, and path smoothness. Specifically, it reduced path length by 2.89%, decreased execution time by 13.98%, and enhanced path smoothness by 93.17%. The resulting paths are more secure and reliable, enabling robots to complete their respective tasks with reduced power consumption, thereby mitigating the drain on robot batteries.

Keywords: collision-free safety; heuristics; mobile robot; optimal boundary; path planning.

Grants and funding

This work is partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62271164, 62101158), the Major Scientific and technological innovation project of Shandong Province of China (2020CXGC010705, 2021ZLGX-05 and 2022ZLGX04), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2020MF017, ZR2022MF255, ZR2023MF051), the engineering research center of Shandong province, and the joint innovation center of Shandong province. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Electronic Information and Intelligent Unmanned Systems, Key Laboratory of Cross-Domain Synergy and Comprehensive Support for Unmanned Marine Systems, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Discipline construction fund (2023SYLHY05).