Multi-robot Path Planning in a 3D Environment by Modified Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

​One of the most important issues in the field of the mobile swarm robot is the problem of path planning.  The goal of path planning is determining the optimal trajectory of the path for multi-robot in a defined search space that directs the robot from a start point to a destination point. This optimal trajectory should be such that the robot does not encounter obstacles and other robots. It should be mentioned that the optimal trajectory should also meets the requirements of being safe and optimal; moreover the optimal trajectory should be the lowest cost path. So far, numerous literature have been devoted to swarm robotic path planning in two dimension environments. But in the real environment, the path is not quite flat, and the search space has lots of roughness. In this paper, the problem of path planning for a swarm of robots will be solved in a three-dimension (3D) feasible search space using the improved particle swarm optimization method. In the experiments, the proposed method is examined in term of number of robots and different environments. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in minimizing path length and travel time.