Multi-branch cable automatic routing by SMT and LDOB-PRM algorithms

Aiming at the automatic routing and optimization problem of multi-branch cable in mechanical and electrical products, a multi-branch cable automatic routing method based on Steiner Minimal Tree (SMT) and improved Low Dispersion and Obstacle Based Probabilistic Roadmap (LDOB-PRM) algorithms was proposed. In this method, Steiner points with constraints were solved by SMT to determine the location of middle forked points. Based on the basic PRM algorithm, the mixed sampling strategy based on low dispersion and obstacle was adopted to construct a path map covering the surface of whole space obstacle. The shortest distance of each path was searched by A* algorithm. The path points were fitted and the multi-branch cable layout design result was obtained. A multi-branch cable automatic routing prototype system was developed and some experiments were tested to prove the feasibility of the proposed method.