Multi-robot co-operation for stick carrying application using hybridization of meta-heuristic algorithm.

The paper offers a novel technique for resolving the multi-robot cooperation for stick carrying applications. The problem addresses the computation of a collision-free optimal path from a predefined initial position to target position during transportation of stick or object cooperatively by robot pair in the multi-robot environment. The stick carrying application has been resolved by embedding the modified Q-learning into the hybrid process of an improved version of particle swarm optimization and intelligent water drop algorithm. In the present context, modified Q-learning generates the best solution for particle swarm optimization and particle swarm optimization is upgraded through the perception of cubic spline and generate the optimal position in the successive iteration using intelligent water drop algorithm and also enhances the intensification and diversification capability of particle swarm optimization. The proposed hybrid algorithm computes the collision-free subsequent position for each robot pair by avoiding the obstacles in its path, avoiding the trapping at the local optima, improving the convergence speed, optimizing the path distance for every pair of robots, energy usage and path smoothness both in the static and dynamic environment's. The validation of the proposed hybrid algorithm has been verified and checked the robustness of the algorithm through computer simulation and real robots through Webots simulator. Further, the efficiency of the proposed algorithm has been verified by comparing the result obtained proposed algorithm and its competitor algorithms and comparing the result of the proposed algorithm with the existing state-of arts. The comparison result shows that the proposed algorithm is superior to its competitor algorithms and state of arts for different matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]