The traditional firefly algorithm used in path planning of mobile robots has the problems of falling into local optimum and low search accuracy.A path planning method for mobile robots was presented based on chaotic courtship firefly algorithm.A chaotic courtship firefly algorithm was designed.In the algorithm,chaotic mapping strategy was used to initialize the population and optimize the problem of uneven population distribution and insufficient search range;the courtship learning strategy was used to guide the male firefly to learn from the female firefly,by which the convergence speed and solution accuracy of the algorithm were improved.Then,the environment simulation model of mobile robot path planning was established,and the chaotic courtship firefly algorithm was used to carry out the simulation of mobile robot path planning.The simulation results show that compared with the traditional firefly algorithm and particle swarm optimization algorithm,the chaotic courtship firefly algorithm reduces the path length by 3.075% and 2.428%,respectively,and has higher search accuracy and the ability to jump out of local optimal.