Automated planning and scheduling

Automated planning and scheduling is a branch of artificial intelligence that focuses on the development of strategies or action sequences to achieve specific goals while considering certain constraints. This field is closely related to, and often overlaps with, other areas of AI such as machine learning, operations research, and robotics.

Overview

Automated planning and scheduling involves the use of algorithms and computational methodologies to create plans and schedules automatically. These plans and schedules can be used in a variety of applications, ranging from industrial processes to autonomous vehicles and software agents.

Planning

In the context of automated planning, a plan is a sequence of actions that an agent can take to move from an initial state to a goal state. The process of creating a plan involves defining the initial state, the goal state, and the set of possible actions that can be taken. The challenge in automated planning is to find the most efficient or optimal plan that achieves the goal.

Scheduling

Scheduling is the process of assigning resources to tasks over time. In automated scheduling, algorithms are used to determine the optimal allocation of resources to tasks, taking into account constraints such as time, cost, and resource availability. Scheduling can be a complex problem, especially in situations where resources are limited or tasks have dependencies on each other.

Techniques

Various techniques are used in automated planning and scheduling, including heuristic search, constraint satisfaction, and optimization. These techniques can be used individually or in combination, depending on the specific requirements of the planning or scheduling problem.

Applications

Automated planning and scheduling has a wide range of applications. In manufacturing, it can be used to optimize production processes and reduce costs. In logistics, it can be used to plan and schedule deliveries, optimizing routes and reducing fuel consumption. In space exploration, it has been used to plan and schedule the activities of autonomous spacecraft and rovers.

See also

• Artificial Intelligence
• Machine Learning
• Operations Research
• Robotics