EXCALIBUR: a program for planning and reasoning with processes

摘要

This article describes research aimed at building a hierarchical partial order planner which is capable of interacting with a constantly changing world. The main aim is to verify a planning and execution strategy based on qualitative process theory which allows a greater level of interaction between the planner and the real world than exists within current planners. A variety of techniques are described which allow the planner to create a model of the world in which plan failures can be analysed and faulty plans repaired. These techniques also allow the planner to react to changes in the world outside of the plan which it has been told previously to avoid happening, e.g., an explosion.