Mechanisms for generating circuit paths are disclosed. A computing device obtains a nodal list that identifies a grid of nodes that is referenced to an area and that uniformly covers at least a portion of the area at a predetermined density. The computing device modifies the nodal list to identify a circuit path from a start node through a succession of neighbor nodes to an end node based on a waypoint list. For each of a plurality of iterations the computing device performs a bubble operation that includes identifying a first pair of nodes that are successive nodes in the circuit path and that are adjacent to a second pair of nodes out of the circuit path, and altering the circuit path to make the second pair of nodes part of the circuit path, such that the first pair of nodes are no longer successive nodes in the circuit path.