Constraint Processing in Planning & Scheduling

[phsoftnet]

I am writing a survey with the title "Constraint Processing in Automated Planning". The current version is quite simple: (i) it introduces planning problems, constraint satisfaction probems, and (ii) briefly describes three cases where constraint satisfaction problems are used to solve planning problems.

 

I was asked by my supervisor to improve it, and I need your help on this (see below), because admittedly, I am not an expert in neither constraint processing or planning & scheduling. To improve it along the lines of his suggestions, I might even have to rewrite it from scratch and only keep a few things. In other words, there is no such thing as a too radical suggestion from your part.

 

I read the book Automated Planning (Ghallab, Nau & Traverso) and picked out the cases where CSPs where involved in solving a planning problem:

 

• converting a state-variable represented problem into a CSP and then solving it
• using PA networks for partial-order planning
• using any temporal CSP for chronicle planning

Then I briefly described each topic in its own section in my survey.

 

My supervisor, however, asked me to "scope" the survey in a problem-oriented way. The current version just covers a set of unrelated cases of planning that use constraint techniques, because this is what i found in the book.

 

He asked me to provide a motivation behind the survey. To confine the content within a specific "family" of planning problems and discuss how and why they benefit from constraint satisfaction techniques and most importantly, why I include those particular cases in my survey.

 

I should do all that, having a strong bias towards constraint satisfaction techniques for re-planning and re-scheduling.

 

It's not clear to me how I should go about this. I know there is a huge literature for both constraint satisfaction and planning & scheduling. Even though I think I understand what he means, what he is asking is too abstract if you are not an expert in the aforementioned fields.

 

I would really appreciate it if you can provide any suggestions.

 

Maybe explain how you perceive what he is asking me to do? Maybe provide some pointers to literature? Thank you in advance, Simon

 

[Yoseph]

I have no clue as to what you're having to write about, but I think he just wants you to change the structure of the essay. If we take the topic "the happiness of dogs", your essay would be 3 sections in which you discuss:

- what makes dogs happy

- what makes dogs unhappy

- how to give a dog balanced lifestyle to make it happy

 

Whereas I think he wants you to take a specific investigation / "motivation" such as "The dogs in India" where you take a specific dog after a brief introduction about dogs and their lifestyle in india. You would then talk about how this specific dog has been treated, why this dog is unhappy, how to make this dog happier, why this method is better than other methods for this specific dog.

 

I know this a very different topic, but I hope you understand what I'm getting at. Take a specific case of Constraint Processing in Automated Planning, or take an example where CPiAP is needed, talk about why it's needed, how it would work etc. if you take a case local to you, you can do an investigation, write up the results, questionaires, etc.

 

I hope this applies for your topic, as I have no idea what CPiAP is

[phsoftnet]

I have no clue as to what you're having to write about, but I think he just wants you to change the structure of the essay. If we take the topic "the happiness of dogs", your essay would be 3 sections in which you discuss:

- what makes dogs happy

- what makes dogs unhappy

- how to give a dog balanced lifestyle to make it happy

 

Whereas I think he wants you to take a specific investigation / "motivation" such as "The dogs in India" where you take a specific dog after a brief introduction about dogs and their lifestyle in india. You would then talk about how this specific dog has been treated, why this dog is unhappy, how to make this dog happier, why this method is better than other methods for this specific dog.

 

I know this a very different topic, but I hope you understand what I'm getting at. Take a specific case of Constraint Processing in Automated Planning, or take an example where CPiAP is needed, talk about why it's needed, how it would work etc. if you take a case local to you, you can do an investigation, write up the results, questionaires, etc.

 

I hope this applies for your topic, as I have no idea what CPiAP is

 

First of all, I really appreciate your response, especially since you are not familiar with these topics

I understand what you're trying to say and I think you are right about it.

Now it's my turn to think

Cheers