Improved Trimming Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm for Mobile Robot Path Planning

Traditional ant colony algorithms for mobile robot path planning often suffer from slow convergence, susceptibility to local optima, and low search efficiency, limiting their applicability in dynamic and complex environments. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an improved trimming ant colony optimization (ITACO) algorithm. The method introduces a dynamic weighting factor into the state transition probability formula to balance global exploration and local exploitation, effectively avoiding local optima. Additionally, the traditional heuristic function is replaced with an artificial potential field attraction function, dynamically adjusting the potential field strength to enhance search efficiency. A path-length-dependent pheromone increment mechanism is also proposed to accelerate convergence, while a triangular pruning strategy is employed to remove redundant path nodes and shorten the optimal path length. Simulation experiments show that the ITACO algorithm improves the path length by up to 62.86% compared to the classical ACO algorithm. The ITACO algorithm improves the path length by 6.68% compared to the latest related research results. These improvements highlight the ITACO algorithm as an efficient and reliable solution for mobile robot path planning in challenging scenarios.