Development of Path Planning Approach Based on Improved A-star Algorithm in AGV System

Automate guide vehicle (AGV) has been widely applied in industry. Therefore, it is important to design a highly efficient AGV. The path planning is known as one of the key factor for AGV operation. Although typical A-star algorithm with a heuristic mechanism can be used in the shortest path searching, it may suffer from broken lines and redundant nodes. In this paper, an improved A-star algorithm is presented. Based on the initial path planned by A-star algorithm, traversing all the nodes on an initial path and deleting unnecessary nodes and connections, the proposed model can remove the superfluous inflection points and redundant nodes effectively so that no obstacles exist during AGV moving. The performance results reveal that the proposed method can provide more efficient path planning with a shorter route and less turn times.