Robots and Video Games Have Similar Approaches to A.I. Pathfinding

Pathfinding, when used in video games and artificial intelligence, typically means an object or entity’s ability to navigate its surroundings. This also works for robotics, though there is one distinct difference: navigating a space where they don’t know where they’re going. Like a blind baby crawling for the first time. In video games, this is a relatively mundane obstacle that every game A.I. has to wrestle, but in robotics, this has some trappings. As a video game, little is at risk when an entity is pushed through a corner and some minor graphical “clipping” occurs, but when you’re talking about a million dollar team project representing years of dedication… well, it matters where you’re going and how safely you get there.

Video Games, the First Approaches

Typically, early video games used barrier or border systems and collision detection to determine a lot of their pathfinding, along with direct path approaches (which are when enemies just move straight for the character without much other consideration, much like Pac-Man or Ghosts in Super Mario Brothers). There was also the Set Pattern method, meaning that enemies didn’t really differ much from game session to game session, as they did in Space Invaders or again, Super Mario.  There’s the random methods used by Asteroids, where they would just float around after being blasted, and the scripted or triggered events. These often worked in groups and each game’s artificial intelligence may use several different methods to approach their pathfinding needs. Often different enemy types will use different pathfinding options to change their behavior.