Autonomous robot navigation based on the evolutionary multi-objective optimization of potential fields

This article presents the application of a new multi-objective evolutionary algorithm called RankMOEA to determine the optimal parameters of an artificial potential field for autonomous navigation of a mobile robot. Autonomous robot navigation is posed as a multi-objective optimization problem with three objectives: minimization of the distance to the goal, maximization of the distance between the robot and the nearest obstacle, and maximization of the distance travelled on each field configuration. Two decision makers were implemented using objective reduction and discrimination in performance trade-off. The performance of RankMOEA is compared with NSGA-II and SPEA2, including both decision makers. Simulation experiments using three different obstacle configurations and 10 different routes were performed using the proposed methodology. RankMOEA clearly outperformed NSGA-II and SPEA2. The robustness of this approach was evaluated with the simulation of different sensor masks and sensor noise. The scheme reported was also combined with the wavefront-propagation algorithm for global path planning.

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