Artificial Intelligence

Solving problems by searching

Fall 2008
professor: Luigi Ceccaroni

Problem solving
We want:
To automatically solve a problem

We need:
A representation of the problem Algorithms that use some strategy to solve the problem defined in that representation

Problem representation
General:
State space: a problem is divided into a set of resolution steps from the initial state to the goal state Reduction to sub-problems: a problem is arranged into a hierarchy of sub-problems

Specific:
Game resolution Constraints satisfaction

States
A problem is defined by its elements and their relations. In each instant of the resolution of a problem, those elements have specific descriptors (How to select them?) and relations. A state is a representation of those elements in a given moment. Two special states are defined:
Initial state (starting point) Final state (goal state)

State modification: successor function

A successor function is needed to move between different states. A successor function is a description of possible actions, a set of operators. It is a transformation function on a state representation, which convert it into another state. The successor function defines a relation of accessibility among states. Representation of the successor function:
Conditions of applicability Transformation function

State space
The state space is the set of all states reachable from the initial state. It forms a graph (or map) in which the nodes are states and the arcs between nodes are actions. A path in the state space is a sequence of states connected by a sequence of actions. The solution of the problem is part of the map formed by the state space.

Problem solution
A solution in the state space is a path from the initial state to a goal state or, sometimes, just a goal state. Path/solution cost: function that assigns a numeric cost to each path, the cost of applying the operators to the states Solution quality is measured by the path cost function, and an optimal solution has the lowest path cost among all solutions. Solutions: any, an optimal one, all. Cost is important depending on the problem and the type of solution sought.

Problem description
Components:
State space (explicitly or implicitly defined) Initial state Goal state (or the conditions it has to fulfill) Available actions (operators to change state) Restrictions (e.g., cost) Elements of the domain which are relevant to the problem (e.g., incomplete knowledge of the starting point) Type of solution:
Sequence of operators or goal state Any, an optimal one (cost definition needed), all

Example: 8-puzzle

1 4

2 5

3 6

Example: 8-puzzle
State space: configuration of the eight tiles on the board Initial state: any configuration Goal state: tiles in a specific order Operators or actions: blank moves
Condition: the move is within the board Transformation: blank moves Left, Right, Up, or Down

Solution: optimal sequence of operators

Example: n queens (n = 4, n = 8)

Example: n queens (n = 4, n = 8)
State space: configurations from 0 to n queens on the board with only one queen per row and column Initial state: configuration without queens on the board Goal state: configuration with n queens such that no queen attacks any other Operators or actions: place a queen on the board

Condition: the new queen is not attacked by any other already placed Transformation: place a new queen in a particular square of the board

Solution: one solution (cost is not considered)

Structure of the state space

Data structures:
Trees: only one path to a given node Graphs: several paths to a given node

Operators: directed arcs between nodes The search process explores the state space. In the worst case all possible paths between the initial state and the goal state are explored.

Search as goal satisfaction

Satisfying a goal
Agent knows what the goal is Agent cannot evaluate intermediate solutions (uninformed) The environment is:
Static Observable Deterministic

Example: holiday in Romania

On holiday in Romania; currently in Arad Flight leaves tomorrow from Bucharest at 13:00 Lets configure this to be an AI problem

Romania
Whats the problem?
Accomplish a goal
Reach Bucharest by 13:00

So this is a goal-based problem

Romania
Whats an example of a non-goal-based problem?
Live long and prosper Maximize the happiness of your trip to Romania Dont get hurt too much

Romania
What qualifies as a solution?
You can/cannot reach Bucharest by 13:00 The actions one takes to travel from Arad to Bucharest along the shortest (in time) path

Romania
What additional information does one need?
A map

More concrete problem definition

A state space

An initial state
A goal state A function defining state transitions

Which cities could you be in? Which city do you start from? Which city do you aim to reach? When in city foo, the following cities can be reached

A function defining the cost of a state sequence

How long does it take to travel through a city sequence?

More concrete problem definition

A state space An initial state A goal state A function defining state transitions A function defining the cost of a state sequence
Choose a representation Choose an element from the representation

Create goal_function(state) such that TRUE is returned upon reaching goal

successor_function(statei) = {<actiona, statea>, <actionb, stateb>, } cost (sequence) = number

Important notes about this example

Static environment (available states, successor function, and cost functions dont change) Observable (the agent knows where it is) Discrete (the actions are discrete) Deterministic (successor function is always the same)

Tree search algorithms

Basic idea:
Simulated exploration of state space by generating successors of already explored states (AKA expanding states)

Sweep out from start (breadth)

Tree search algorithms

Basic idea:
Simulated exploration of state space by generating successors of already explored states (AKA expanding states)

Go East, young man! (depth)

Implementation: general search algorithm

Algorithm General Search Open_states.insert (Initial_state) Current= Open_states.first() while not is_final?(Current) and not Open_states.empty?() do Open_states.delete_first() Closed_states.insert(Current)

Successors= generate_successors(Current)
Successors= process_repeated(Successors, Closed_states, Open_states) Open_states.insert(Successors)

Current= Open_states.first()
eWhile eAlgorithm

Example: Arad Bucharest

Algorithm General Search Open_states.insert (Initial_state)

Arad

Example: Arad Bucharest

Current= Open_states.first()

Arad

Example: Arad Bucharest

while not is_final?(Current) and not Open_states.empty?() do Open_states.delete_first() Closed_states.insert(Current) Successors= generate_successors(Current) Successors= process_repeated(Successors, Closed_states, Open_states) Open_states.insert(Successors)

Arad

Zerind (75)

Timisoara (118)

Sibiu (140)

Example: Arad Bucharest

Current= Open_states.first()

Arad

Zerind (75)

Timisoara (118)

Sibiu (140)

Example: Arad Bucharest

while not is_final?(Current) and not Open_states.empty?() do Open_states.delete_first() Closed_states.insert(Current) Successors= generate_successors(Current) Successors= process_repeated(Successors, Closed_states, Open_states) Open_states.insert(Successors)

Arad

Zerind (75)

Timisoara (118)

Sibiu (140)

Dradea (151)

Faragas (99)

Rimnicu Vilcea (80)

Implementation: states vs. nodes

State
(Representation of) a physical configuration

Node
Data structure constituting part of a search tree
Includes parent, children, depth, path cost g(x)

States do not have parents, children, depth, or path cost!

Search strategies
A strategy is defined by picking the order of node expansion Strategies are evaluated along the following dimensions: Completeness does it always find a solution if one exists? Time complexity number of nodes generated/expanded Space complexity maximum nodes in memory Optimality does it always find a least-cost solution?

Search strategies
Time and space complexity are measured in terms of: b maximum branching factor of the search tree (may be infinite) d depth of the least-cost solution m maximum depth of the state space (may be infinite)

Uninformed Search Strategies

Uninformed strategies use only the information available in the problem definition
Breadth-first search Uniform-cost search Depth-first search Depth-limited search Iterative deepening search

Nodes
Open nodes:
Generated, but not yet explored Explored, but not yet expanded

Closed nodes:
Explored and expanded

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Breadth-first search
Expand shallowest unexpanded node Implementation:
A FIFO queue, i.e., new successors go at end

Space cost of BFS

Because you must be able to generate the path upon finding the goal state, all visited nodes must be stored O (bd+1)

Properties of breadth-first search

Complete?
Yes (if b (max branch factor) is finite)

Time?
1 + b + b2 + + bd + b(bd-1) = O(bd+1), i.e., exponential in d

Space?
O(bd+1) (keeps every node in memory)

Optimal?
Only if cost = 1 per step, otherwise not optimal in general

Space is the big problem; it can easily generate nodes at 10 MB/s, so 24 hrs = 860GB!

Depth-first search
Expand deepest unexpanded node Implementation:
A LIFO queue, i.e., a stack

Depth-first search
Complete?
No: fails in infinite-depth spaces, spaces with loops. Can be modified to avoid repeated states along path complete in finite spaces O(bm): terrible if m is much larger than d, but if solutions are dense, may be much faster than breadth-first O(bm), i.e., linear space! No

Time?

Space?

Optimal?

Depth-limited search
It is depth-first search with an imposed limit on the depth of exploration, to guarantee that the algorithm ends.

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Treatment of repeated states

Breadth-first:
If the repeated state is in the structure of closed or open nodes, the actual path has equal or greater depth than the repeated state and can be forgotten.

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Treatment of repeated states

Depth-first:
If the repeated state is in the structure of closed nodes, the actual path is kept if its depth is less than the repeated state. If the repeated state is in the structure of open nodes, the actual path has always greater depth than the repeated state and can be forgotten.

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Iterative deepening search

Iterative deepening search

The algorithm consists of iterative, depth-first searches, with a maximum depth that increases at each iteration. Maximum depth at the beginning is 1. Behavior similar to BFS, but without the spatial complexity. Only the actual path is kept in memory; nodes are regenerated at each iteration. DFS problems related to infinite branches are avoided. To guarantee that the algorithm ends if there is no solution, a general maximum depth of exploration can 45 be defined.

Iterative deepening search

Summary
All uninformed searching techniques are more alike than different. Breadth-first has space issues, and possibly optimality issues. Depth-first has time and optimality issues, and possibly completeness issues. Depth-limited search has optimality and completeness issues. Iterative deepening is the best uninformed search we have explored.

Uninformed vs. informed

Blind (or uninformed) search algorithms:
Solution cost is not taken into account.

Heuristic (or informed) search algorithms:

A solution cost estimation is used to guide the search. The optimal solution, or even a solution, are not guaranteed.
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