Study on Path Planning based on Artificial Potential Field using Triangular Target Strategy

Path planning algorithms are essential to ensure that mobile robots reach their target smoothly. Artificial Potential field (APF) is a traditional path planning algorithm, which is widely used in the local path planning algorithm of mobile robots because of its advantages of small computation, easy to understand and easy to implement. The problems of unreachable target and local minimum exist in traditional APF. To solve these two problems, APF is improved in this paper. Aiming at the unreachable target, this paper introduces adjusting factor into the repulsion potential field function to make the target become the lowest potential energy and ensure that the robot can reach the target. To solve the local minimum problem, this paper presents a triangular target strategy, which can select a suitable virtual target to introduce additional external forces, so as to break the robot's equilibrium state. Simulation results show that the improved APF successfully solves the above two problems.