Path coordinator by the modified genetic algorithm

Path planning is an important task for optimal motion of a robot in structured or unstructured environment. The goal of this paper is to plan the shortest collision-free path in 3D, when a robot is navigated to pick up some tools or to repair some parts from various locations. To accomplish the goal of this paper, the Path Coordinator is proposed to have the capabilities of an obstacle avoidance strategy[3] and a traveling salesman problem strategy(TSP)[23]. The obstacle avoidance strategy is to plan the shortest collision-free path between each pair of n locations in 2D or in 3D. The TSP strategy is to compute a minimal system cost of a tour that is defined as a closed path navigating each location exactly once. The TSP strategy can be implemented by the Neural Network. The obstacle avoidance strategy in 2D can be implemented by the VGraph Algorithm. However, the VGraph Algorithm is not useful in 3D, because it can't compute the global optimality in 3D. Thus, the Path Coordinator is proposed to solve this problem, having the capabilities of selecting the optimal edges by the modified Genetic Algorithm[21] and computing the optimal nodes along the optimal edges by the Recursive Compensation Algorithm[5].