Optimizing the PDDL domain of TUSP to improve planner performance

Optimizing the PDDL domain of TUSP to improve planner performance: Modifying the domain to improve planner execution time, plan quality, and problem solvability

Chiu, Simba (TU Delft Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)

Hanou, I.K. (mentor)
Dumančić, S. (graduation committee)
Hai, R. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Computer Science and Engineering

CSE3000 Research Project

2023-06-28

It is possible to improve the performance of planners by modifying the PDDL domain of a problem. The goal of this research is to implement this to the domain of the Train Unit Shunting Problem (TUSP). The research question we attempt to answer is: To what extent can we improve planner performance by optimizing the PDDL domain of TUSP? The main contributions of this research are: a formalization of the TUSP and its constraints in PDDL terminology, a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of planners on the PDDL domain of TUSP, provide general approaches and techniques that can be used to optimize a PDDL domain, and provide insights into the relationship between the performance of planners and PDDL domain properties. To answer the research question, we measure the performance of the planners in terms of execution time, plan quality, and problem solvability. We modified the domain by combining actions such that the number of computations is decreased and by introducing action costs. With these modifications, we found a decrease in planner execution time and an increase in plan quality. We found no difference in problem solvability. Therefore, we can conclude that we can indeed improve the performance of planners by implementing these modifications to the domain of TUSP.

Classical Planning
Planning Domain Definition Language
Train Unit Shunting Problem
International Planning Competition 2018

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:a4235dfd-f124-4fdc-aca4-2305bc11be57

Student theses

bachelor thesis

© 2023 Simba Chiu