Theta* is an any-angle path planning algorithm that is based on the A* search algorithm.
It can find near-optimal paths with run times comparable to those of A*.
[1] For the simplest version of Theta*, the main loop is much the same as that of A*.
Compared to A*, the parent of a node in Theta* does not have to be a neighbor of the node as long as there is a line-of-sight between the two nodes.
[2]The following variants of the algorithm exist:[citation needed]