Honey Badger Algorithm: New metaheuristic algorithm for solving optimization problems

Recently, the numerical optimization field has attracted the research community to propose and develop various metaheuristic optimization algorithms. This paper presents a new metaheuristic optimization algorithm called Honey Badger Algorithm (HBA). The proposed algorithm is inspired from the intelligent foraging behavior of honey badger, to mathematically develop an efficient search strategy for solving optimization problems. The dynamic search behavior of honey badger with digging and honey finding approaches are formulated into exploration and exploitation phases in HBA. Moreover, with controlled randomization techniques, HBA maintains ample population diversity even towards the end of the search process. To assess the efficiency of HBA, 24 standard benchmark functions, CEC’17 test-suite, and four engineering design problems are solved. The solutions obtained using the HBA have been compared with ten well-known metaheuristic algorithms including Simulated annealing (SA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES), Success-History based Adaptive Differential Evolution variants with linear population size reduction (L-SHADE), Moth-flame Optimization (MFO), Elephant Herding Optimization (EHO), Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA), Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA), Thermal Exchange Optimization (TEO) and Harris hawks optimization (HHO). The experimental results, along with statistical analysis, reveal the effectiveness of HBA for solving optimization problems with complex search-space, as well as, its superiority in terms of convergence speed and exploration–exploitation balance, as compared to other methods used in this study. The source code of HBA is currently available for public at https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/98204-honey-badger-algorithm.