MODEN: Multi-Robot, Obstacle-Driven Elastic Network Path Planning

We propose an efficient and elegant heuristic algorithm for path planning that makes use of an elastic network. The network initializes as a simple straight path between the initial and goal positions. It then randomly samples the space around the areas of this initial path that lie inside obstacles, “pushing” the network away from the obstacles and thus determining an obstacle-free path. The fundamental algorithm, dubbed as ODEN (Obstacle-Driven Elastic Network), is an improved extension of the path-planning algorithm proposed in [1]. We also propose a multi-robot variation of ODEN, that we have named MODEN (Multi-robot ODEN). We illustrate the application of both algorithms in numerous test environments and discuss its applicability to general path-planning problems.