PLANNING and INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS

Planning, as an inseparable component of intelligent behavior, became a research interest as early as AI was founded. The possibility of an automated planning system has been studied at different levels of complexity and over a wide area of application domains. Many methodologies have been proposed and several planning systems have been built, nevertheless there is a long way to go before we can speak of practical success. A planning system must meet the real world requirements. It must respond in real time and cope with the unpredictability and uncertainty which are inherent characteristics of the real environments. Planning as a component of Intelligent Systems and the corresponding research are the objectives of this report which is organized in three parts. The first part contains an introduction and the statement of the problem. The second part reviews the proposed techniques and methodologies, as well as the related problems and difficulties. Finally, in the last part four well-known planning systems are described: STRIPS, NOAH, SIPE, FORBIN. 1 This report serves as a partial fulfillment for the requirements of CMPS 619 course during Fall 1996 semester.