The Dung Beetle Optimization (DBO) algorithm is a powerful metaheuristic algorithm that is widely used for optimization problems. However, the DBO algorithm has limitations in balancing global exploration and local exploitation capabilities, often leading to getting stuck in local optima. To overcome these limitations and address global optimization problems, this study introduces the Multi-Strategy and Improved DBO (MSIDBO) Algorithm. The MSIDBO algorithm incorporates several advanced computational techniques to enhance its performance. Firstly, it introduces a random reverse learning strategy to improve population diversity and mitigate early convergence or local stagnation issues present in the DBO algorithm. Additionally, a fitness-distance balancing strategy is employed to better manage the trade-off between diversity and convergence within the population. Furthermore, the algorithm utilizes a spiral foraging strategy to enhance precision, promote strong exploratory capabilities, and prevent being trapped in local optima. To further enhance the global search ability and particle utilization of the MSIDBO algorithm, it combines the Optimal Dimension-Wise Gaussian Mutation strategy. By minimizing premature convergence, population diversity is increased, and the convergence of the algorithm is accelerated. This expansion of the search space reduces the likelihood of being trapped in local optima during the evolutionary process. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the MSIDBO algorithm, extensive experiments are conducted using benchmark test functions, comparing its performance against other well-known metaheuristic algorithms. The results highlight the feasibility and superiority of MSIDBO in solving optimization problems. Moreover, the MSIDBO algorithm is applied to path planning simulation experiments to showcase its practical application potential. A comparison with the DBO algorithm shows that MSIDBO generates shorter and faster paths, effectively addressing real-world application problems.

To address the problems of limited population diversity and a tendency to converge prematurely to local optima in the original sparrow search algorithm (SSA), an improved sparrow search algorithm (ISSA) based on multi-strategy collaborative optimization is proposed. ISSA employs three strategies to enhance performance: introducing one-dimensional composite chaotic mapping SPM to generate the initial sparrow population, thus enriching population diversity; introducing the dung beetle dancing search behavior strategy to strengthen the algorithm’s ability to jump out of local optima; integrating the adaptive t-variation improvement strategy to balance global exploration and local exploitation capabilities. Through experiments with 23 benchmark test functions and comparison with algorithms such as PSO, GWO, WOA, and SSA, the advantages of ISSA in convergence speed and optimization accuracy are verified. In the application of robot path planning, compared with SSA, ISSA exhibits shorter path lengths, fewer turnings, and higher planning efficiency in both single-target point and multi-target point path planning. Especially in multi-target point path planning, as the obstacle rate increases, ISSA can more effectively find the shortest path. Its traversal order is different from that of SSA, making the planned path smoother and with fewer intersections. The results show that ISSA has significant superiority in both algorithm performance and path planning applications.