A hierarchical memetic algorithm (MA) is proposed for the path planning and formation control of swarm robots. The proposed algorithm consists of a global path planner (GPP) and a local motion planner (LMP). The GPP plans a trajectory within the Voronoi diagram (VD) of the free space. An MA with a non-random initial population plans a series of configurations along the path given by the former stage. The MA locally adjusts the robot positions to search for better fitness along the gradient

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... tion of the distance between the swarm robots and the intermediate goals (IGs). Once the optimal configuration is obtained, the best chromosomes are reserved as the initial population for the next generation. Since the proposed MA has a non-random initial population and local searching, it is more efficient and the planned path is faster compared to a traditional genetic algorithm (GA). The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm works well in terms of path smoothness and computation efficiency.