Automatic cable routing based on improved pathfinding algorithm and B-spline optimization for collision avoidance

Abstract With the recent growth of electrical and electronic systems such as electric vehicles, the demand for automatic cable routing for electrical wiring design is increasing. However, real industry use cases of automatic cable routing are still rare especially in three-dimensional design. In this study, we propose a new pathfinding algorithm, JPS–Theta*, which combines the existing pathfinding algorithms, Jump Point Search and Theta*, that is better suited for cable routing. In addition, we propose a B-spline optimization algorithm to create natural cable shapes while avoiding collisions. In the experiments, it was found that the proposed pathfinding algorithm complements the existing algorithms and is thought to be more suitable for the purpose of automatic cable routing. Additionally, ant colony optimization for continuous domains, a meta-heuristic algorithm, was successfully used for optimizing the B-spline to obtain cable shapes without collision. Lastly, as a case study, the proposed method was directly applied to the electrical panel design to show its effectiveness. We expect that the proposed method will be able to improve the efficiency and quality of electrical wiring design.