Searching energy-efficient route for mobile robot with ant algorithm

Recently, the ant algorithm has been widely used to solve the problem of searching for optimization route from various different paths. The ant algorithm can also be applied for searching an appropriate route that consumes less energy in mobile robot area, which is similar problem domain. However, in order to apply, the ant algorithm is required to adapt due to the factor of energy that must be considered in addition to the distance alone. This paper presents the adaptation of ant algorithm to solve the problem of searching energy-efficient route for mobile robot. The adapted ant algorithm deploys a speed, which is employed to find the energy to move the robot in each route, to generate pheromones used to define the probability that the ants will choose for the best route. Then, the distance is used as a weighting factor to discover the energy-efficient route in terms of distance and speed by simulation. The results from adapted ant algorithm are also used to compare with the conventional ant algorithm for investigation. The simulation results expressed that, when using the speed with the distance to weight, the average distance is shortest. Consequently, when transforming into the energy, the result is much lower as well. Therefore, the adaptation of ant algorithm can improve the result of searching problem for optimization route that consumes less energy, which is a limited resource of mobile robot.