A novel approach for collision-free path planning of a multiple degree-of-freedom (DOF)articulated robot in a complex environment is proposed. Firstly, based on visual neighbor point (VNP), a numerical artificial potential field is constructed in Cartesian space, which provides the heuristic information, effective distance to the goal and the motion direction for the motion of the robot joints. Secondly, a genetic algorithm, combined with the heuristic rules, is used in joint space to determine a series of contiguous configurations piecewise fiom initial configuration until the goal configuration is attained. A simulation shows that the method can not only handle issues on path planning of the articulated robots in environment with complex obstacles, but also improve the efficiency and quality of path planning.