Learning Objectives

At the end of the class you should be able to:

explain the model of deterministic
planning
represent a problem using the STRIPs representation of
actions.

AI System 1 / 11
State-space Search

deterministic or stochastic dynamics

fully observable or partially
observable
explicit states or features or individuals and relations
static or finite stage or indefinite stage or infinite
stage goals or complex preferences
perfect rationality or bounded rationality
flat or modular or hierarchical
single agent or multiple agents
knowledge is given or knowledge is
learned
reason offline or reason while
interacting with environment
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Classical Planning

deterministic or stochastic dynamics

fully observable or partially
observable
explicit states or features or individuals and relations
static or finite stage or indefinite stage or infinite
stage goals or complex preferences
perfect rationality or bounded rationality
flat or modular or hierarchical
single agent or multiple agents
knowledge is given or knowledge is
learned
reason offline or reason while
interacting with environment
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Planning

Planning is deciding what to do based on an agent’s

ability, its goals, and the state of the world.

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Planning

Planning is deciding what to do based on an agent’s

ability, its goals, and the state of the world.
Initial assumptions:
► The world is deterministic. There are no exogenous events
outside of the control of the robot that change the state of
the world.

© D . L . Poole and A.K. Mackworth 2010-2020 Artificial Intelligence, Lecture 6.1 4 / 11

Planning

Planning is deciding what to do based on an agent’s

ability, its goals, and the state of the world.
Initial assumptions:
► The world is deterministic. There are no exogenous events
outside of the control of the robot that change the state of
the world.
► The agent knows what state it is in. (Fully observable)

4 / 11
Planning

Planning is deciding what to do based on an agent’s

ability, its goals, and the state of the world.
Initial assumptions:
► The world is deterministic. There are no exogenous events
outside of the control of the robot that change the state of
the world.
► The agent knows what state it is in. (Fully observable)
► Time progresses discretely from one state to the next.

© D . L . Poole and A.K. Mackworth 2010-2020 Artificial Intelligence, Lecture 6.1 4 / 11

Planning

Planning is deciding what to do based on an agent’s

ability, its goals, and the state of the world.
Initial assumptions:
► The world is deterministic. There are no exogenous events
outside of the control of the robot that change the state of
the world.
► The agent knows what state it is in. (Fully observable)
► Time progresses discretely from one state to the next.
► Goals are predicates of states that need to be achieved.

© D . L . Poole and A.K. Mackworth 2010-2020 Artificial Intelligence, Lecture 6.1 4 / 11

Planning

Planning is deciding what to do based on an agent’s

ability, its goals, and the state of the world.
Initial assumptions:
► The world is deterministic. There are no exogenous events
outside of the control of the robot that change the state of
the world.
► The agent knows what state it is in. (Fully observable)
► Time progresses discretely from one state to the next.
► Goals are predicates of states that need to be achieved.
Planning is finding a sequence of actions to solve a goal.

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Actions

A deterministic action is a partial function from states to

states.

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Actions

A deterministic action is a partial function from states

to states.
The preconditions of an action specify when the action can
be carried out.

© D . L . Poole and A.K. Mackworth 2010-2020 Artificial Intelligence, Lecture 6.1 5 / 11

Actions

A deterministic action is a partial function from states

to states.
The preconditions of an action specify when the action can
be carried out.
The effect of an action specifies the resulting state.

© D . L . Poole and A.K. Mackworth 2010-2020 Artificial Intelligence, Lecture 6.1 5 / 11

Delivery Robot Example

Coffee
Shop
(cs) Sam's
Office
(off )

Mail Lab
Room (lab)
(mr )

Actions:
Features:
mc – move clockwise
RLoc – Rob’s location
mcc – move
RHC – Rob has coffee
counterclockwise
SWC – Sam wants coffee
puc – pickup coffee
MW – Mail is waiting
dc – deliver coffee
RHM – Rob has mail
pum – pickup mail
dm – deliver mail
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Explicit State-space Representation

State Action Resulting State

⟨lab, ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , mc ⟨mr , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , rhm⟩
rhm⟩ mc ⟨off , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , rhm⟩
⟨lab, ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , c ⟨off , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw ,
rhm⟩ dm ¬rhm⟩
⟨off , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , mc ⟨cs, ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , rhm⟩
rhm⟩ c ⟨lab, ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , rhm⟩
⟨off , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , mc ...
rhm⟩ ...
⟨off , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw ,
rhm⟩
...

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Explicit State-space Representation

State Action Resulting State

⟨lab, ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , mc ⟨mr , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , rhm⟩
rhm⟩ mc ⟨off , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , rhm⟩
⟨lab, ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , c ⟨off , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw ,
rhm⟩ dm ¬rhm⟩
⟨off , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , mc ⟨cs, ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , rhm⟩
rhm⟩ c ⟨lab, ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , rhm⟩
⟨off , ¬rhc, swc, ¬mw , mc ...
What
rhm⟩happens when we also want
... to model its battery
charge? Wantswc,
⟨off , ¬rhc, “elaboration
¬mw , tolerance”.
rhm⟩
...

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STRIPS Representation

The state is a function from features into values. So it can

be represented as a set of feature-value pairs.
For each action:
precondition a set of feature-value pairs that must be true
for the action to be carried out.

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STRIPS Representation

The state is a function from features into values. So it can

be represented as a set of feature-value pairs.
For each action:
precondition a set of feature-value pairs that must be true
for the action to be carried out.
effect a set of a feature-value pairs that are made true by
this action.

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STRIPS Representation

The state is a function from features into values. So it can

be represented as a set of feature-value pairs.
For each action:
precondition a set of feature-value pairs that must be true
for the action to be carried out.
effect a set of a feature-value pairs that are made true by
this action.
STRIPS assumption: every feature not mentioned in the effect
is unaffected by the action.

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Example STRIPS representation

Pick-up coffee (puc):

precondition: {RLoc = cs, RHC = False}. “The robot
needs to be at the coffee shop and not holding coffee in
order to pick up coffee.”

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Example STRIPS representation

Pick-up coffee (puc):

precondition: {RLoc = cs, RHC = False}. “The robot
needs to be at the coffee shop and not holding coffee in
order to pick up coffee.”
effect: {RHC = True}. “After the robot picks up coffee, it
is holding coffee. Nothing else has changed.”

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Example STRIPS representation

Pick-up coffee (puc):

precondition: {RLoc = cs, RHC = False}. “The robot
needs to be at the coffee shop and not holding coffee in
order to pick up coffee.”
effect: {RHC = True}. “After the robot picks up coffee, it
is holding coffee. Nothing else has changed.”
Deliver coffee (dc):
precondition: {Rloc = off , RHC = True} “The robot
needs to be at the office and holding coffee in order to
deliver coffee.”

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Example STRIPS representation

Pick-up coffee (puc):

precondition: {RLoc = cs, RHC = False}. “The robot
needs to be at the coffee shop and not holding coffee in
order to pick up coffee.”
effect: {RHC = True}. “After the robot picks up coffee, it
is holding coffee. Nothing else has changed.”
Deliver coffee (dc):
precondition: {Rloc = off , RHC = True} “The robot
needs to be at the office and holding coffee in order to
deliver coffee.”
effect: {RHC = False, SWC = False} “After the
robot delivers coffee, it is not holding coffee, and Sam
no longer wants coffee. Nothing else has changed.”

© D . L . Poole and A.K. Mackworth 2010-2020 Artificial Intelligence, Lecture 6.1 9 / 11

Deterministic Planning

Given:
A description of the effects and preconditions of the
actions A description of the initial state
A goal to achieve
find a sequence of actions that is possible and will result in a
state satisfying the goal.

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