Journal of Academic and Applied Studies (JAAS)

Vol. 2(1) Jan 2012, pp. 32-38

Available online @ www.academians.org ISSN1925-931X

NAVIGATION OF MOBILE ROBOT

USING THE PSO PARTICLE SWARM
OPTIMIZATION
Sedigheh Ahmadzadeh 1 , Mehdi Ghanavati2
1
Department of Mechanic engineering, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad university, Ahvaz, Iran
2
Department of Mechanic engineering, Mahshahr Branch, Islamic Azad university, Mahshahr, Iran

Abstract
Robots are being used increasingly in different fields like industry and space applications. Nowadays
there are even demands for application of robots in homes and hospitals. These robots should be able
to move and navigate at indoor areas which consist of fixed and movable obstacles like walls and
chairs, respectively. There is not a fixed map of obstacles in these applications and the robot should
detect obstacles and decide how to move to achieve the goal while avoiding obstacles. In this paper, an
intelligent approach for navigation of a mobile robot in unknown environments is proposed. Particle
Swarm Optimization(PSO) method be used for finding proper solutions of optimization problems. At
first the robot navigation problem is converted to optimization problem. Then PSO method searches
the solution space to find the proper minimum value. Based on position of goal. an evaluation function
for every particle in PSO is calculated. In each iteration of the algorithm, the global best position of
particle is selected and the robot moves to next calculated point in order to reach the goal. To be
practical, it’s assumed that Robot can detect only obstacles in a limited radius of surrounding with its
sensors. Environment is supposed to be dynamic and obstacles can be fixed or movable.

Keywords: Navigation, Mobile robot, Particle Swarm Optimization.

1. INTRODUCTION

Mobile robot according to their abilities in various fields such as rescue search in different
spaces environments and many other fields, have proven their ability and are used.
Navigation is a key problem in mobile robots, so in recent years it has been much attention
to this issue. This means that the robot should moves on a path without colliding obstacles,
and it considers the optimization criteria to passes the shortest trajectory to the goal.
Different methods such as Potential Field (APF) method[khatib,1986],Genetic Algorithms
(GA) has been trying to solve this problem[Pratihar,199]. In general, these methods to be
divided into two different categories. The first is global navigation based on a known
environment, and other is local navigation based on perception of sensors from the unknown
environment. In global navigation methods cost of environmental change, especially in
dynamic environments is very high, because supply a new map is difficult. Therefore,
research on the local navigation is necessary. These methods could be able to detect the

32
unknown environment, and it does not need to environment model. In this paper, a new
method of local navigation based on particle swarm optimization technique is proposed.
In This method, an optimization problem based on position of obstacles, and goal is
designed and then PSO is used to solve the optimization problem. In each iteration of the
algorithm, the global best position of particle is selected and the robot moves on the points
in order to reach the goal.
Whenever sensors detect changes in their environment or whenever the robot reaches to a
local goal the local, processor of robot updates its data.

2. A REVIEW OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH

To solve the navigation problem for the robot, researchers have proposed various methods.
In conventional navigation methods such as cell decomposition(Latombe,1990) and road
map(Wang.,2000), due to the high volume of calculations, we are not able to solve problems
in complex environments.
Artificial potential field method(Shi,2009), because of simplification frequently is used
for local navigation. But due to stop at a local minima, This method will fail. In recent years
a series of intelligent ideas, such as genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization
because of the robust and ability to the Simultaneous calculations to solve the navigation
problems are used. Ghorbani and colleagues(Ghorbani, 2009), use of the genetic algorithm
for solving the problem of mobile robot navigation. Sugiwara and colleagues, (Sugawara,
2004), used ants colony algorithm to solve the problem of navigation in a dynamic virtual
environment. Qu and colleagues, (Qu, 2009) used neural networks for navigation and
obstacles avoid in dynamic environments. PSO, by Kennedy in 1995, based on observation
of the collective behaviour of certain species of animals such as birds and fish have been
proposed (Eberhart, 1995& Kennedy, 1995). Due to simplicity, this method is used in robot
navigation. Doctor and colleagues(Doctor, 2004), using the PSO method for navigation an
unmanned vehicle that can converge well. Chen and colleagues, (Chen, 2006), suggests a
soft and efficient navigation method for mobile robot using the Stochastic PSO. Qin and
colleagues(Qin, 2004) used the Chaotic PSO with Mutation operator for navigation and
moving the robot meets the immediate needs.
Hao and colleagues, (Hao, 2007) proposed a method of obstacles avoiding using the PSO
and polar coordinate system in a dynamic environment. Wang and colleagues (Wang, 2006)
used a PSO for navigation of soccer robot and Karimi(Karimi,2012) , using dynamic hybrid
PSO algorithm to solve motion planning problem.

3. THE NEW NAVIGATION METHOD BASED ON PSO

3.1 Particle Swarm Optimization method

The PSO is a technique that is used in order to explore in a search space of a problem. PSO
algorithm in this space, explores the parameters needed to minimize or to maximize. PSO
algorithm has three stages. This process was repeated until a stop condition be observed:
1. Evaluate the fitness of each particle.
2. Update the best fitness, local and global best position.
3. Update velocity and position of each particle.
A basic variant of the PSO algorithm works by having a population (called a swarm)
of candidate solutions (called particles). These particles are moved around in the search-
space according to a few simple formulae. The movements of the particles are guided by
their own best known position in the search-space as well as the entire swarm's best known
position. When improved positions are being discovered these will then come to guide the
movements of the swarm. The process is repeated and by doing so it is hoped, but not
guaranteed, that a satisfactory solution will eventually be discovered. Velocity and position
of each particle in PSO, respectively, using the relations (1) and (2) is updated.

(1)

(2)

Index of particles are shown by i. Therefore , is velocity of particle i at t time and

is position of particle i at t time. Parameters , and are coefficient defined by the user
)0 ≤ ≤ 1.2 ،0 ≤ ≤ 2 ،0 ≤ ≤ 2( . and values are random that are produced at each
updated velocity[shi,1998], ( 0 ≤ ≤ 1 , 0 ≤ ≤ 1 ). is the best possible value for the
particle i at time t. is the best possible solution among those particles at the moment t.

3.2 Determine the local goal position

During navigation, the information is obtained real-time by the robot sensors. Real time
navigation process has three stages. First, the navigation problem becomes an optimization
problem. Then according to the goal and obstacles, proper objective function is designed.
Finally, the PSO is used for solving optimization. In the process global best position of
particles in each stage is the local goal that is at limited radius around the robot. The robot
achieved the local goals, to reach your final goal.

According to the all the above, we assume that G is the final goal that its coordinates is
shown by . In addition, we assume that there is N obstacles in environment that we
can specify them by the names of . Their coordinates are as follows :
, so objective function of particle pi is as relation (3):

(3)

In this relationship, the absolute value represents distance between two points that is
calculated by relation (4):

(4)

is distance between pi and O point. Because the robot when faced with
obstacles may be multiple points are detected as a obstacles. according to the relation (3), pi
is closer to the goal, the amount will be smaller and pi any further away from
obstacles detected by sensors, the value will be greater. Therefore, this problem
will become a minimum optimization problem. In relation (3), the local goal is closer to the
global goal, the objective function reduced. These variables can be seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The optimal particles distance to the goal and obstacle

In Figure 1, yellow dots detected by sensors belongs to the obstacle has the closest distance
to the robot. The blue dot is the optimal next place that the robot goes there in the next step.
This particle is determined by PSO, and it has a minimum distance from the goal (green
circle) and maximum distance from the yellow point.

Change the value of and in the relation (3) is effective in the robot path. ever is
greater than, obstacles avoidance is more important so, the robot t goes around the obstacle,
otherwise the robot might be colliding with obstacle. The larger , the robot will tend more
toward the the final goal and the path will be shorter.
4 OBSTACLES AVOIDANCE
We first consider the case in which there are only fix obstacles. In this case w1 = 0.01, w2 = 1
was considered. PSO algorithm is programmed using Matlab commands, and robot is
simulated by Webots1, mobile robot software simulator. This software has a three-
dimensional virtual world with physical features like mass as well as it has many sensors as
distance sensors, cameras, etc. Mobile robot is a robot with differential drive. The Webots
robot simulator is used in more than 935 universities and research centers
worldwide[cyberbotics.com].
.The robot can go forward or side spin. Robot with 16 infra-red sensors that are spread
around its body. Infrared sensors detect the maximum radius is 20 cm. Webots and Matlab

1
www.cyberbotics.com
can be joint, PSO Matlab code calculates optimum point and in Webots, Robot goes to this
point real time. navigation result of this method for fix obstacles is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: robot navigation by PSO, fix obstacle

At this stage there are two robots in which they move toward their goal. These robots are
moving obstacles for each other. To calculate the fitness of each
particle is considered Their path can be seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3: robot navigation by PSO, moving obstacle

Figure 4 is shown the result of navigation method by PSO for two robots which they go to
their goal.
 Figure 4: robot navigation by PSO, two robots with two goals

5 CONCLUSIONS

This paper proposed a navigation method for mobile robots. First, the navigation problem
becomes an optimization problem, and then it is solved by PSO algorithm. Global best
position of particles in each stage is the local goal that is at limited radius around the robot.
The robot achieved the local goals, to reach your final goal.
Obstacles in the environment by the robot sensors, in a limited radius around it is
detected. The robot will come. It Can not be said with certainty that the path travelled by the
robot to the global is optimum because the environment is dynamic and unknown. The
proposed method is flexible, that way you can change any parameters, or control the degree
of importance of avoiding or moving toward the goal.

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