Evaluation of Robot Path Planning Algorithms in Global Static Environments: Genetic Algorithm Vs Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm

This paper presents the application of Genetic Algorithm and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) Algorithm for robot path planning (RPP) in global static environment. Both algorithms were applied within global maps that consist of different number of free space nodes. These nodes generally represent the free space extracted from the robot map. Performances between both algorithms were compared and evaluated in terms of speed and number of iterations that each algorithm takes to find an optimal path within several selected environments. The effectiveness and efficiency ofboth algorithms were tested using a simulation approach. Comparison of the performances and parameter settings, advantages and limitations of both algorithms presented herewith can be used to further expand the optimization algorithm in RPP research area.