ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

[INTELLIGENT AGENTS PARADIGM]

PLANNING AGENTS
Professor Janis Grundspenkis

Riga Technical University

Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology
Institute of Applied Computer Systems
Department of Systems Theory and Design

E-mail: [email protected]
 Simple Planning Agents (1)

PLANNING AGENT generates goals

to achieve, constructs plan that
achieves its goal, executes this plan
until it is finished, and then begins
again with a new goal
 Simple Planning Agents (2)
What is the difference between
problem-solving agent and planning
agent?
Differences are in representations of
goals
states
actions
Differences are in the representation
and construction of action sequences
(search for solutions)
 Simple Planning Agents
Program
> Percept
TELL (KB, MAKE PERCEPT SENTENCE (percept))
CURRENT STATE DESCRIPTION (KB)
> Goal generation
ASK (KB, MAKE GOAL QUERY) GOAL
> Plan construction
CALL PLANNING ALGORITHM (CURRENT STATE
DESCRIPTION, GOAL, KB) PLAN
> Action
First action from the PLAN
TELL (KB, MAKE ACTION SENTENCE (action))
Return: action
 Basic Elements of a Search-
Based Problem-Solver (1)
Representation of actions
Actions are described by programs that
generate successor state descriptions
Representation of states
States are simple data structures.
All state descriptions are complete. (A
complete description of initial state is given.
Actions are represented by a program that
generates complete state descriptions)
 Basic Elements of a Search-
Based Problem-Solver (2)

Representation of goals
Agent has information in the form of goal test
and the heuristic function
Representation of solutions (plans)
A solution is sequence of actions beginning
from the initial state, and ending at a goal
state
 Basic Elements
of Planning Agent
Planning algorithms use descriptions in some
formal language, usually first-order logic
Representation of actions
Logical descriptions of preconditions and effects
Representation of states
Set of sentences of first-order logic
Representation of goals
Set of sentences of first-order logic
Representation of plans
Direct connections between states and actions
 Three Key Ideas Behind
Planning
1. Open up the representation of states, goals
and actions
2. The planner is free to add actions to the plan
wherever they are needed (instead of growing
sequence of actions starting at the initial state)
3. Most parts of the world are independent from
the other parts
Divide-and-conquer strategy is used,
because it is easier to solve several small
sub-problems rather than one big problem
Representations for Planning
Representations for states and
goals
Representations for actions
Situation Space
Plan Space
Representations for Plans
Solutions
 Representations
for States and Goals (1)
STRIPS language is used in most
planners
In STRIPS language states are
represented by conjunctions of
predicates (possibly negated) with
constants as their terms
Example:
At(Shop) Have(Money) Have(Computer)
 Representations
for States and Goals (2)
In STRIPS language goals or represented by
conjunctions of predicates with constants and
variables used as their terms
Examples:
At(home) Have(Computer)
At(x) Sells(x, Computer)
> Variables are assumed to be existentially
quantified
Representations of initial states and goals are
used as inputs of planning systems
 Representations
for Actions (1)
STRIPS operators consist from
three components:
The action description
Within the planner it is only the name
of a possible action
Agent returns it to the environment in
order to do something
 Representations
for Actions (2)
The precondition
It is a conjunction of predicates (not
negated) that must be true before the
operator can be applied
The effect of an operator
It is a conjunction of predicates
(possibly negated) that describes how
the situation changes when the
operator is applied
 STRIPS Operator (1)
Syntax:
Operator (ACTION: actions name,
PRECONDITION: p(x) q(y) ...
EFFECT: r(y) w(x) ...)
where p and q denotes any predicates; p and w
may be changed to r and/or w in EFFECT
> An operator with variables is called operator
schema
> All variables are assumed universally
quantified
 STRIPS Operator (2)

Graphical notation (example):

PRECONDITION: At(home), Path(home, shop)

ACTION: Go(shop)
EFFECT: At(shop), At(home)
 Situation Space
for Planning (1)
Situation space is represented by a
graph
Nodes represent possible situations in the
world
Arcs represent transitions between situations.
Transitions occur if operators are applied one
at a time
A path through the situation space from
the initial situation to the goal situation
constitutes a plan
 Situation Space
for Planning (2)
Situation space planner searches
through the situation space
Progression planner searches forward
from the initial situation to the goal
situation
Regression planner searches
backward from the goal situation to the
initial situation
 Plan Space for Search (1)
Space of Plans
Search starts with partial plan
(incomplete plan)
Partial plan is expanded until a
complete plan that solves the problem
The final plan is the solution, and the
path taken to reach it is irrelevant
 Plan Space for Search (2)
Operators on plans
Operators are: adding a step, ordering steps, binding
variables, etc.
Refinement operators add constraints to a partial
plan
If partial plans are representations for complete,
fully constrained plans, then refinement operators
eliminate some plans from this set
Refinement operators never add new plans to this
set
Modification operators are anything that is not a
refinement operator
 Types of Plans (1)
Partially ordered plans
Some steps are ordered (before or
after) with respect to each other
and other steps are unordered
Totally ordered plans
Plans consist of a simple list of steps
 Types of Plans (2)
Linearization of a plan P is a
totally ordered plan derived from
P by adding ordering constraints
Fully instantiated plans
Plans in which every variable is
bound to a constant
Formal Definition of a Plan (1)
A plan is a data structure
consisting of four components:
A set of plan steps. Each step is
one of the operators for the problem
A set of step ordering constraints.
notation: Si Sj
(step Si must occur sometimes before Sj)
Formal Definition of a Plan (2)
A set of variable binding
constraints
Variable may be substituted by
another variable or a constant
A set of causal links
Notation: Si Sj
(the purpose of Si for Sj)
 Representations of Plans (1)
The initial plan
Describes the unsolved problem
Consists from two steps START and
FINISH
Ordering constraint START FINISH
The START step has no preconditions.
The START steps effect is to add all the
propositions that are true in the initial
state
 Representations of Plans (2)
The START step has null actions associated
with it
The FINISH step has the goal state as its
precondition
The FINISH step has no effects
The FINISH step has null actions associated
with it
The planner starts with the initial plan and
manipulate it until a plan that is a solution
is constructed
 Solution (1)
(a Complete, Consistent Plan)
A complete plan
A plan in which every precondition
of every step is achieved by some
other step
A step achieves a condition if the
condition is one of the effects of the
step, and if no other step can
possibly cancel out the condition
 Solution (2)
(a Complete, Consistent Plan)
A consistent plan
A plan in which there are no
contradiction in the ordering or binding
constraints
A contradiction occurs when both Si Sj
and Sj Si hold, or both v = A and v = B
hold (v is variable, and A, B are
constants). Both and = are transitive
 Solution (3)
(a Complete, Consistent Plan)

A solution is a plan that an agent

can execute
A solution guarantees
achievement of the goal
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (1)
A partial-order regression planner
searches through plan space
The planner starts with an initial plan
representing the start and finish steps
Start

At(Home), Sells(Record shop, CD), Sells(Bakers shop, Bread)

Have(CD), Have(Bread), At(home)

Finish
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (2)
The planner adds one more step on each
iteration
To keep the search focused, the planner
only considers adding steps that allow to
achieve a precondition that has not yet
been achieved (causal links keep track
on it)
If the search leads to an inconsistent
plan, it backtracks and searches
another branch
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (3)
Definition of the initial state
Operator (ACTION: Start,
EFFECT: At(Home),
Sells(Record shop, CD),
Sells(Bakers shop, Bread)
Definition of the final state
Operator (ACTION: Finish,
PRECONDITION: Have(CD),
Have(Bread), At(Home))
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (4)
Definition of the actions
Operator (ACTION: Go(shop),
PRECONDITION: At(Home),
EFFECT: (At(shop) At(Home))
Operator (ACTION: Buy(x),
PRECONDITION: At(shop)
Sells(shop, x), EFFECT: Have(x))
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (5)
The first step: a partial plan that
achieves two preconditions of Finish
state
Ordering constraints
Start

At(shop), Sells(shop, CD) At(shop), Sells(shop, Bread)

Buy(CD) Buy(Bread)
Causal Ordering
links constraint
Have(CD) Have(Bread) At(Home)
Ordering Finish
constraint
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (6)
Remark: Just to simplify the
graphical representation, in the
following Figures ordering
constraints are supposed to be
depicted underneath of the
causal links
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (7)
The second step: a partial plan
that achieves two preconditions
of Finish state
Start
At(Record shop), At(Bakers shop),
Sells(Record shop, CD) Sells(Bakers shop, Bread)
Buy(CD) Buy(Bread)

Have(CD) Have(Bread) At(Home)

Finish
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (8)
The third step: extension of the plan by
choosing two Go actions
Start
At(x) At(x)
Go(Record shop) Go(Bakers shop)

At(Record shop), At(Bakers shop),

Sells(Record shop, CD) Sells(Bakers shop, Bread)
Buy(CD) Buy(Bread)

Have(CD) Have(Bread) At(Home)

Finish
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (9)
The fourth step: a dead end
Start
At(Home) At(Home)
Go(Record shop) Go(Bakers shop)

At(Record shop), At(Bakers shop),

Sells(Record shop, CD) Sells(Bakers shop, Bread)
Buy(CD) Buy(Bread)

Have(CD) Have(Bread) At(Home)

Finish
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (10)
Remark: The step Go(Record shop)
adds the condition At(Record shop),
but it also deletes the condition
At(Home), that is, now agent can not
go from home to the bakers shop
(whichever Go step comes first will
delete the At(Home) precondition
on the other step)
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (11)
The fifth step: back up to try a different choice at
some earlier point in the planning process
Start
At(Home) At(Record Shop)
Go(Record shop) Go(Bakers shop)

At(Record shop), At(Bakers shop),

Sells(Record shop, CD) Sells(Bakers shop, Bread)
Buy(CD) Buy(Bread)

Have(CD) Have(Bread) At(Home)

Finish
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (12)
Remark: Go(Bakers shop) step
threatens the At(Record shop)
precondition of the Buy(CD) step.
Constraining Go(Bakers shop) step
to come after Buy(CD) step will not
allow the agent to go from the record
shop to the bakers shop without first
buying the CD
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (13)
The sixth step: adding a Go(Home) step
Start
At(Home) At(Record Shop)
Go(Record shop) Go(Bakers shop)

At(Record shop), At(Bakers shop),

Sells(Record shop, CD) Sells(Bakers shop, Bread)
Buy(CD) Buy(Bread)
At(Bakers shop)
Go(Home)

Have(CD) Have(Bread) At(Home)

Finish
 A Partial-Ordered Planning
Example (14)

Remark: Notice that Go(Home)

step is ordered to be after
Buy(Bread) step
A Partial-Ordered Planning Example (15)
A complete solution plan (totally ordered)
Start

At(Home)
Go(Record shop)

At(Record shop), Sells(Record shop, CD)

Buy(CD)

At(Record shop)
Go(Bakers shop)

At(Bakers shop, Sells(Bakers shop, Bread)

Buy(Bread)

At(Bakers shop)
Go(Home)

Have(CD), At(Home), Have(Bread)

Finish
A Partial-Ordered Planning (1)
Backtrack for trying another choice when
dead end is reached
Causal links in a partial plan are protected
links
Definition: A causal link is protected by
ensuring that threats, that is, steps that
might delete the protected condition, are
ordered to come before or after the
protected link
A Partial-Ordered Planning (2)
Example
A causal link
Step1Step2
Step 1
is threatened
Step 3 by Step 3
PRECONDITION PRECONDITION
because one
Step 2 effect of Step 3
is to delete
condition
A Partial-Ordered Planning (3)
Threat resolving by addition of ordering
constraints
> Demotion > Promotion

Step 3 Step 1
precondition
precondition
Step 1 Step 2

precondition Step 3
Step 2 precondition
 A Partial-Order Planning
Algorithm (1)
POP algorithm
Starts with minimal partial plan (starts with
goals that must be achieved)
Extends the plan by achieving a precondition
of a needed step (find operators)
(Some operator that achieves the precondition
is chosen either from the existing steps of the
plan or from the set of operators)
 A Partial-Order Planning
Algorithm (2)
Records the causal link for the newly
achieved precondition
If the new step threatens an existing
causal link or an existing step threatens
the new causal link the threat resolving
is applied
If at any point the algorithm fails to find a
relevant operator or resolve a threat, it
backtracks to a previous choice point
If all the preconditions of all the steps
are achieved, it is a solution
 A Partial-Order Planning
Algorithm (3)

POP is a regression planner. It

is sound and complete