Mobile robot path planning based on bi-population particle swarm optimization with random perturbation strategy

Path planning for mobile robots poses a challenging optimization problem, requiring the discovery of a near-optimal path within diverse constraints. Conventional particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms encounter limitations in solving constrained problems, vulnerability to local optima, and premature convergence. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a bi-population PSO algorithm with a random perturbation strategy (BPPSO), which divides particles into two subpopulations. The first subpopulation enhances global search capabilities by considering the quality of particles and the optimal solution of a randomly selected particle when updating velocities. The second subpopulation strengthens local search using a linear cognitive coefficient adjustment strategy. Moreover, a counter tracks iteration without improvement in the global best position. Upon reaching a predefined threshold, random perturbation is added to the positions of all particles in both subpopulations, increasing diversity and enhancing the ability to escape local optima. The performance of BPPSO was experimentally validated across three benchmark functions and four environment models. The results have demonstrated that the proposed BPPSO outperforms existing PSO algorithms and other established path planning algorithms in terms of path quality and running time, highlighting the feasibility of BPPSO in resolving the challenge of mobile robot path planning.