OCLh: a sound and supportive planning domain modelling language

1998

Abstract This manual describes the syntax of PDDL, the Planning Domain Definition Language, the problem-specification language for the AIPS-98 planning competition. The language has roughly the the expressiveness of Pednault's ADL [10] for propositions, and roughly the expressiveness of UMCP [6] for actions. Our hope is to encourage empirical evaluation of planner performance, and development of standard sets of problems all in comparable notations.

Proc. Workshop on V&V of Planning and Scheduling Systems, 2009

In this paper we discuss the nature of the verification and validation problems as they apply to planning domain specification, construction and use. We consider the extent to which it is a real problem and highlight a few examples of problems in simple domains as evidence of the ways that bugs can appear in domain models. We then proceed to examine tools that can be used to help in resolving the problem of domain specification validation and verification, before illustrating the verification of a model of a battery domain.

In Castillo, L., Borrajo, D., Salido. M.A. & Oddi, A. (Eds) "Planning, Scheduling and Constraint Satisfaction: from Theory to Practice", Frontiers in AI and Applications, Vol. 117, pp. 129-138. Amsterdam: IOS Press., 2005

Sentential and diagrammatic representations are two different formalisms for describing domains and problems. Sentential descriptions are usually more expressive than diagrammatic ones, but tend to present a more complex and less intuitive notation. All modern planning domain description languages are sentential. The complexity of sentential formalisms has been of hindrance to the wider dissemination and take up of planning technology beyond the planning research community. This paper proposes a diagrammatic “meta-language” for planning domain descriptions based on setGraphs as an alternative to sentential languages. SetGraphs represent actions, states and goals in terms of set-and graph-theoretic constructs. Through various practical examples, setGraphs are shown to yield simpler and more intuitive domain encodings, and to offer a high degree of elaboration tolerance. A theoretical analysis shows how the representation can be easily encoded using formal languages, and demonstrates that setGraphs are at least as expressive as a standard modern propositional planning domain description language. The model proposed constitutes a “core” representation that can be adopted as a basis for developing different planning domain description languages; it is suitable to be used across different levels of abstraction during the processes of language development and domain knowledge engineering, and it facilitates the elicitation, maintenance and re-use of planning domain descriptions.

2003

Research in planning has advanced rapidly over recent years, spurred partly by a series of international planning competitions and the convergence on empirical evaluation that this has encouraged. One of the most important contributions made by the competition sequence is the development of a community standard modelling language, PDDL. This language has been extended from a relatively simple action description language to include constructs to express the use of resources and other metrically measured quantities and time. The traditional boundaries between planning and scheduling have become increasingly blurred, so that planning research is now regularly considered in application to problems that include management of resources, time, and the combined planning and scheduling of complex concurrent activities. In this paper we examine the extent to which PDDL2.1, the most recent development of the community standard modelling language, supports expression of realistic features of complex application domains. This examination is carried out with particular reference to two domains inspired by space applications: satellite observation planning and planetary rover exploration planning. Versions of these domains were used in the 3rd International Planning Competition (2002). The limitations of these versions with respect to the application problems and the gap between the modelling language and the demands of these applications is explored.

2006

Abstract There is a great interest in the planning community to apply all developments already achieved in the area to real applications. Such scenario makes the community focus on Knowledge Engineering (KE) applied in modeling of planning problems and domains. In this short paper, a specification and modeling environment is proposed that uses UML in a Planning Approach, denominated UML.

2005

Abstract A graphical interface is presented for the modeling of planning environments where an integrated tool permits the user to export the planning model to different representation languages such as PDDL or XML. The application uses an UML model to introduce a planning domain as a first step, followed by a step where a representation in Petri Nets–automatically translated from UML-is used to validate its static and dynamic behavior.

Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, 2003

In recent years research in the planning community has moved increasingly towards application of planners to realistic problems involving both time and many types of resources. For example, interest in planning demonstrated by the space research community has inspired work in observation scheduling, planetary rover exploration and spacecraft control domains. Other temporal and resource-intensive domains including logistics planning, plant control and manufacturing have also helped to focus the community on the modelling and reasoning issues that must be confronted to make planning technology meet the challenges of application.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2014

Writing and maintaining planning problems, specified in the widely used Planning Domain Definition Language (pddl) can be difficult, time-consuming, and error-prone. One reason seems to be the missing support by engineering tools. The present study proposes myPddl-a modular toolkit for developing and manipulating pddl domains and problems. To evaluate myPddl, we compare it to existing knowledge engineering tools for pddl and experimentally assess its usefulness for novice pddl users.

2007

A great effort has been made today in the area of Artificial Intelligence for defining reliable automated planning systems that can be applied in real life applications. That leads to the need of a systematic design process, in which the initial phases are not neglected and where Knowledge and Requirement Engineering tools have a fundamental role for supporting designers. Following this principle, this paper presents the evolution of the tool itSIMPLE which implements a KE integrated environment where designers can perform knowledge acquisition, domain modeling, domain model analysis, model testing, maintenance and plan analysis processes by using different well-known languages such as UML, Petri Nets, PDDL and XML, each one of them with its best contribution. The tool supports users in an organized object-oriented domain design process with a friendly and easy-to-use interface.

2002

Abstract This paper discusses work aimed at allowing domain experts to generate a domain model for an AI planning system as part of a larger project to build an integrated set of tools for supporting AI planning. It outlines the overall methodology and discusses the tool in which this is embodied. A Domain model is generated in which can be represented by cluster of constraints shaping an Ontology of each studied case.