Integrating Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm with Local Search for Solving Data Clustering Problems

This paper proposes a hybrid approach for solving data clustering problems. This hybrid approach used one of the swarm intelligence algorithms (SIAs): grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA) due to its robustness and effectiveness in solving optimization problems. In addition, a local search (LS) strategy is applied to enhance the solution quality and access to optimal data clustering. The proposed algorithm is divided into two stages, the first of which aims to use GOA to prevent getting trapped in local minima and to find an approximate solution. While the second stage aims by LS to increase LS performance and obtain the best optimal solution. In other words, the proposed algorithm combines the exploitation capability of GOA and the discovery capability of LS, and integrates the merits of both GOA and LS. In addition, 7 well-known datasets that commonly used in several studies are used to validate the proposed technique. The results of the proposed methodology are compared to previous studies; where statistical analysis, for the various algorithms, indicated the superiority of the proposed methodology over other algorithms and its ability to solve this type of problem.