ROBOT with self learning system

I'm doing a project on self learning system which includes robotics i wan't some information or suggetions in my algorithm the robot has to be placed in a grid in which there some obstacles ,it has given staring point and the ending point through staring point to ending point he has to go through th shortest path with consideration of the obstacles that are placed in between the two points . so he has to calculate the shortest path with considering the obstacles. the grid is plane surface & & divided into units of the size of robot there is an ir fitted on the top of the robot that can scan the all the adjacent units. the scaning capacity of the ir is one unit. if you have any suggetions or information regarding this problem please replay it will be very nice of you. thank you