Verber
(Please note the temporal planning domains are still undergoing data scrubbing/cleaning, they will be released asap)
Contingency planning, crisis management
Traditionally, planning systems are all about finding ways to solve the combinatoric problem of satisfying a few goals. Why these goals are selected is not usually of any consequence. What we really need is a system that understands what happens if, for instance, you do not pay your rent. Another thing, is that it make sure that the daily average of some required thing exceeds what it needs to be, hence ensuring that you don't fall behind. So, our system is for instance able to reason as to what consequences will happen if certain actions are taken or forsaken, and on the basis of this, determine what it thinks are important goals.
Involve some kind of automatic relational multidimensional queue. Ensure that it looks at everything (completeness). A planner that looks at all possible actions, and calculates what is most effective for you to do.
Overview:
According to the U.S. Army Survival Manual, it is necessary to develop a "pattern of survival". People do this with various degrees of success. Software that addresses these issues has real world applicability.
Advances in open source temporal planning technology make possible the creation of many useful real world planning domains. We demonstrate one such domain which necessarily utilizes many of the features present in PDDL2.2. This includes numeric quantities, durative actions, and derived predicates.
By leveraging this planning software, and integrating this planning domain with a dialog and execution manager agent using open source speech recognition and text to speech tools, we demonstrate an effective open source tool for time management and planning.
Example:
Here is the modest first (anonymized) plan generated by Verber for buying groceries. It was mainly to serve two needs, to get integration with other modules smoothly, and to help me get to the store. It uses actual bus data generated by the BusRoute Verber module. I am working on developing query planning domains, to plan the generation of sub-domains from modules as needed. The intention is to increase the coverage of the domain to such an extent that virtually all tasks in day to day life are completely scheduled.
Plan computed: Time: (ACTION) [action Duration; action Cost] 19.2500: (RIDEBUS USER BUS-71D-51 CULMORE-AND-DERRY HELMSHIRE-AND-BROOKS) [D:0.0000; C:1.0000] 19.2500: (BUYGROCERIES USER FORBES-AND-MURRAY) [D:1.0000; C:1.0000] 20.2500: (RIDEBUS USER BUS-71D-52 HELMSHIRE-AND-BROOKS CULMORE-AND-DERRY) [D:0.0000; C:1.0000]
Here is an ancient plan.
Plan computed: Time: (ACTION) [action Duration; action Cost] 0.0000: (MOVE ANDY CS-LOUNGE DOHERTY-LOCKER-161) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000] 0.1500: (PICK-UP ANDY LAUNDRY DOHERTY-LOCKER-161) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000] 0.2500: (MOVE ANDY DOHERTY-LOCKER-161 FORBES-AND-CHESTERFIELD) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000] 0.4000: (SET-DOWN ANDY LAUNDRY FORBES-AND-CHESTERFIELD) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000] 0.5000: (WASH-LAUNDRY ANDY LAUNDRY FORBES-AVE-LAUNDROMAT FORBES-AND-CHESTERFIELD) [D:2.0000; C:1.0000] 2.5000: (MOVE ANDY FORBES-AND-CHESTERFIELD BAKER-LOCKER-18) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000] 2.6500: (PICK-UP ANDY ELECTRIC-RAZOR BAKER-LOCKER-18) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000] 2.7500: (PICK-UP ANDY TOWEL BAKER-LOCKER-18) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000] 7.0000: (MOVE ANDY BAKER-LOCKER-18 UC-GYM) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000] 7.1500: (SHOWER ANDY TOWEL UC-MENS-LOCKER-ROOM-SHOWER UC-GYM) [D:1.0000; C:1.0000] 8.1500: (MOVE ANDY UC-GYM BAKER-LOCKER-18) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000] 8.3000: (MOVE ANDY BAKER-LOCKER-18 DOHERTY-4201) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000] 8.4500: (SET-DOWN ANDY ELECTRIC-RAZOR DOHERTY-4201) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000] 8.5500: (CHARGE ELECTRIC-RAZOR OUTLET0 ANDY DOHERTY-4201) [D:12.0000; C:1.0000] 20.5500: (PICK-UP ANDY ELECTRIC-RAZOR DOHERTY-4201) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000] 20.6500: (MOVE ANDY DOHERTY-4201 FLAGSTAFF-HILL) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000] 24.0000: (SHAVE ELECTRIC-RAZOR ANDY FLAGSTAFF-HILL) [D:0.2500; C:1.0000]
This software aims to improve our ability to reason with the objective consequeunces of our actions, which is of course necessary in order to act morally and ethically.
So the possiblity of incorporating plans which are very robust is something we should certainly do here since this improves the results and utility of any planning process, and is in a certain sense the entire reason we wish to do this.
The system is named after the late Senior Chess Master Richard Verber, in the spirit illustrated by this quote:
"After losing a game to the master, Jermaine Bush realized that Verber had controlled the outcome from the opening move. This was a mastery that the boy yearned for - both in his chess playing and in his life. Yeah, he thought, control!"
Verber already incorporates many important features. It has support for plan cycles, launching code as a result of a planning action, domain microtheories, visualization, and an interactive execution monitor/dialog system. It is easy to incorporate other systems and considerations into verber, simply by specifying a verber module consisting of a pddl file and programmable actions. Ultimately, HTNs will be exported from PSE to Manager/Verber and almost all activities will be guided using this combination, with monitoring sending results to RSR to measure goal accomplishment.