On Path Planning and Optimization Strategies: Toward Embedded Road Applications

In recent years, the role of robots in science, technology, and research, has become very important. Mobile robots are used in many fields on land, in the air, and underwater, and are integrated into numerous applications such as maintenance, security, detection, exploration of anomalies, decision making, and carrying out operations. These robots have thus taken their place in the terrain where there is an electric field and where they are involved in the maintenance of power lines, even at high voltage. This article deals with one of the principles used to improve the performance of this type of robot, namely path planning. This point is very important to save time and consequently avoid economic losses. Nowadays, many difficulties and challenges have to be overcome in order to navigate autonomously, efficiently, and reliably. This article reviews path planning methods for mobile robots, examines their modeling, algorithms, and optimization criteria, and proposes to open the horizon for embedded road applications (ERA).