Review on path planning methods for mobile robot

Route navigation of mobile robots is a crucial zone of robotics part, which has received a lot of focus over time. As the robots are designed to do specific tasks, it is very important that robot has to start from a fixed point, move in a pre-defined path and reach the goal point to complete the task avoiding different kinds of obstacles, either static or dynamic in nature. Typically, algorithms fall into one of two kinds: classical algorithms and evolutionary algorithms. The performance of the evolutionary algorithms performed excel when flexibility and creativity are required to handle more complicated and dynamic environments, whereas classical algorithms concentrate on accuracy and efficiency in terms of path optimisation, fast solution generation and efficacy for static environment with simple obstacle. It has some weakness such as low efficiency, poor performance and failure in case of presence of multiple obstacles especially when the obstacles are close to each other. In this paper the recent advances in studies made by the researchers on different types of mobile robots based on their navigation techniques, cognition, perception, sensing, optimisation techniques adopted for path planning and their feasibility in applying them in variety of environmental conditions like static & dynamic environments. The types of obstacles considered (static or dynamic), the type of experiment performed based on simulation, physical experiment or a combination of both local or global coordinates, and the type of research approaches including classical, heuristic, metaheuristic and hybrid, type of working space 2D or 3D are some of the areas on which emphasis or focus is placed. The review ends up with analysis on the ways that mobile robots plot their paths and the possible future directions to cope with the current revolutions in the exponential age.