A-star algorithm vs. Q-learning algorithm for path planning: A comparative analysis

Abstract

In robotics research, the core focus is on path planning, as it's essential for robots to navigate according to human objectives to be valuable. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the commonly used A-Star algorithm and Q-learning algorithm in mobile robot path planning. It specifically examines the advantages and disadvantages of both the A-Star algorithm and the Q-learning algorithm, highlighting their roles in the advancement of robotic intelligence. The A-star algorithm is an algorithm with a heuristic function to guide path selection direction. Also, the A-star algorithm is guaranteed to identify the most efficient path in terms of traffic cost when facing static obstacles. However, its performance degrades when dealing with trap nodes. Specifically, the algorithm occupies a large amount of memory and takes a long computational time. In contrast, the Q-learning algorithm is effective for learning continuous actions with the same network data structure for local path planning tasks.