Three Dimensional Path Planning of Snake-Arm Robot Based on Improved Ant Colony Algorithm

A path planning algorithm based on an improved ant colony algorithm was proposed to solve the path planning problem of snake-arm robots in a structured environment. The heuristic function of the ant colony algorithm is combined with an artificial potential field. Setting up a repulsive force field around the obstacle and an attractive field at the target point, the snake-arm robot is guided to advance from the starting point to the target point while avoiding the obstacle. Chaos disturbance is added to the pheromone update to improve the global search capability of the algorithm. In path optimization, the linear generation algorithm and cubic uniform B-spline curve interpolation algorithm are used to optimize the path globally.