Task Assignment and Path Planning Method of Multi-Robot in Coal Mine Considering Charging Problem

It is the future development trend of coal mine production to use robots instead of manuals to realize efficient and safe inspection under complex underground environments. Aiming to address the problem of continuous inspection of multiple robots in underground roadways, a multi-robot task planning method considering charging piles is proposed. Firstly, the underground roadway environment model with a charging pile is constructed. Then, a mathematical model for task assignment of multi-robots with charging piles is established considering the impact of the road environment, and an improved bidirectional ant colony (IBACO) algorithm is proposed for optimization and solution, to obtain the optimal inspection task sequence of each robot, and ensure that each robot can efficiently complete the inspection task and arrive at the charging pile in time. Secondly, combined with road environment factors, a mathematical model of path planning with charging piles is established, and an improved Honey Badge-Fruit Fly (IHBAFOA) algorithm is proposed for optimization and solution, which can plan a safe path traversing all inspection task points. Finally, through the design of simulation experiments, it is proved that compared with other mainstream algorithms, the proposed algorithm has obvious advantages in solving the problem of multi-robot continuous inspection in an underground roadway environment.