A study of sweeping coverage path planning method for deep-sea manganese nodule mining robot

Development of a mining robot represents the key-technology for commercial mining of manganese nodules from 5,000m deep seafloor. In this paper, we are concerned with the discussion on method of sweeping coverage path planning for the mining robot. The mining robot sweeps a two dimensional area, i.e. sea-floor, by using its collecting device and vehicle. Its path should be planned for maximizing of sweeping coverage efficiency. This is known as problem of “area sweeping”, “terrain coverage”, or “complete coverage”, in which mobile robot/vehicle should pass over each point predetermined and avoid obstacles. We discuss the needs of simulations for performance test and evaluation in aim of planning and verification of optimal mining path.