In this lecture we introduce the topic of AI planning, some early AI planning systems, and some of the issues that arise from reasoning about actions and plans. The topics include:

• States, goals, actions, plans
• Situation calculus
• Representing change
• The frame problem
• The ramification problem
• The qualification problem
• The closed-world assumption (CWA)
• STRIPS (1971)
• Operators: preconditions, add and delete effects
• Goal stacks
• Planning as search
• Means-ends analysis
• NOAH (1975)
• Goal interleaving, Sussman’s anomaly
• Plan networks
• TWEAK (1987)
• The Modal Truth Criterion (MTC)

Nilsson, N. "Principles of Artificial Intelligence", Tioga Publishing, 1980.

• Good introduction to planning and STRIPS

Rich, E. and Knight, K. "Artificial Intelligence", McGraw Hill, 1991.

• Good description of planning as search, STRIPS, TWEAK

Russell, S. and Norvig, P. "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach", Prentice Hall, 1995.

• Good overview of action representations, frame problem, situation calculus

Sacerdoti, E. "The Nonlinear nature of Plans". In Allen, J, Hendler, J., and Tate, A. "Readings in Planning", Morgan Kaufmann, 1990.

• Describes NOAH and Sussman’s anomaly