Path Planning for Flapping-Wing Flying Robots through Optimized A* Algorithm

Considering motion characteristics of the flapping-wing flying robot (FWFR), a Chebyshev-like distance and a segmented planning method are proposed to optimize the traditional A* algorithm for path planning of the FWFR. For the scenario of off-board path planning, a distance inspired by Chebyshev distance is proposed, which is used to plan a smoother path with less computation. Compared to the commonly-used Euclidean distance, simulation results show that the number of computations, path turns, and path lengths in five designed maps are reduced by 8.6%, 10% and 12.8%, respectively. For on-board path planning, segmented path planning is implemented by enforcing time and computation constraints, and simulations demonstrate that this trade-off of optimality for efficiency methods ensures the real-time performance of the algorithm. Finally, a real FWFR developed by ourselves flies safely to the predetermined location under the guidance of optimized A* algorithm by using the proposed Chebyshev-like distance.