Configurable, Mixed-Initiative Systems for Planning and Scheduling

The Robotics Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA

Abstract

This paper discusses work aimed at accelerating the construction and introduction of planning and scheduling systems in complex application domains. We begin by outlining our basic perspective on planning and scheduling, and our assumptions about the requirements and characteristics of practical planning and scheduling problems. This leads to a particular constraint-based solution framework, and a specific architecture for configuring application systems. We describe OZONE, a planning and scheduling toolkit that implements these ideas, and give examples from different application building efforts that illustrate the efficacy of the approach. *

* The work described in this paper was sponsored in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency and Rome Laboratory, Air Force Material Command, USAF, under grant numbers F30602-90-C-0119 and F30602-95-1-0018 and the CMU Robotics Institute. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright annotation thereon. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the Advanced Research Projects Agency and Rome Laboratory or the U.S. Government.