A Comparison of RRT, RRT* and RRT*-Smart Path Planning Algorithms

Sampling based planning algorithm such as RRT and RRT* are extensively used in recent years for path planning of mobile robots. They are probabilistic complete algorithms and have natural support for solving high dimensional complex problems. RRT*-Smart is an extension of RRT* with faster convergence as compared to its predecessors. This paper provides an analytical review of the three algorithms. Impact of different parameters on algorithm's performance is also evaluated. Moreover, a performance comparison for different optimality criteria such as path cost, run time and total number of nodes in tree is performed through simulation based experiments. Further, the comparative analysis is concluded with future research directions.