  This paper proposes a path planning strategy for an Autonomous Ground Vehicle
(AGV) navigating in a partially known environment. Global path planning is
performed by first using a spatial database of the region to be traversed
containing selected attributes such as height data and soil information from a
suitable spatial database. The database is processed using a biomimetic swarm
algorithm that is inspired by the nest building strategies followed by
termites. Local path planning is performed online utilizing information
regarding contingencies that affect the safe navigation of the AGV from various
sensors. The simulation discussed has been implemented on the open source
Player-Stage-Gazebo platform.
