Experimental Comparison of A* and D* Lite Path Planning Algorithms for Differential Drive Automated Guided Vehicle

Abstract

Nowadays there are some path planning algorithms for mobile robot which have been documented and explained individually in detail such as A*, LPA*, D* and D* Lite. However, there is still a lack of a comparative analysis of these algorithms. Therefore, in this paper a research of comparing A* and D* Lite algorithm for AGV’s path planning is conducted by using simulation and experiment. The goal is to compare the characteristic of each algorithm when they are applied in a real differential drive AGV and give the reader a guide in choosing algorithms for their own planning domains. The emphasis of this comparison is on the computation time of generating trajectory and the distance of the generated trajectory. The simulation and experimental results show that generally D* Lite can plan the shorter path with faster computation time than A*. However, there are some cases when D* Lite is less effective than A*. It means which of the algorithms should be chosen depends on the requirement of the system.