1. http://www.planet-noe.org European Network of Excellence in AI Planning PLANET Gap Bridging Seminar (GBS-2) Prof. dr. Tim Grant Atos Origin Nederland / University of Pretoria Tim.Grant@atosorigin.comTim.Grant@atosorigin.com / tgrant@cs.up.ac.zatgrant@cs.up.ac.za

2. 2 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 Overview Presentation goal: –To introduce 2 nd PLANET Gap-Bridging Seminar Structure: –Purpose of GBS-2 –Our sponsors –EU Network of Excellence in Planning (PLANET) –Features & benefits analysis –Introducing the speakers

3. 3 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 GBS-2: purpose (1) Motivation for GBS-2: –Academia & industry both work in P&S –Their goals differ: Academia: –Develops new knowledge & technologies –Performance measured in terms of publications Industry: –Applies knowledge & technologies in products & services –Performance measured in financial terms –Communications gap!

4. 4 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 GBS-2: purpose (2) GBS-2’s aim: –To bridge the gap between academia & industry Approach: –Industrial speakers talk about real-world applications –Academic audience Benefits: –To audience: Gain understanding of wider influences on P&S Gain new problems & insights that can guide R&D –To speakers: Visibility, state-of-the-art, partnerships, recruitment

5. 5 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 GBS-2: sponsors PLANET: –EU Network of Excellence in AI Planning –http://www.planet-noe.org/http://www.planet-noe.org/ SIKS: –Dutch research school for Information & Knowledge Systems –http://www.siks.nl/http://www.siks.nl/ TU Delft: –Leading Dutch university of technology –http://www.tudelft.nlhttp://www.tudelft.nl Atos Origin: –Leading international IT services provider –http://www.atosorigin.com/http://www.atosorigin.com/

6. 6 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 PLANET (1) Overall aim: –Build co-ordinated network to support research, development, & technology transfer in Europe Objectives: –Encourage pan-European co-operation between research groups & industry –Promote technology transfer by early involvement of industrial partners –Co-ordinate training & exchange of researchers and people from industry & public administration –Provide an information infrastructure and a representative source of expertise

7. 7 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 PLANET (2) Research and Development Co-ordination Malik Ghallab, Lee McCluskey 1 Training and Exchange Sam Steel, Susanne Biundo 4 Technology Transfer and Communication Ruth Aylett, Tim Grant, Brian Drabble 2 Technical Co-ordination Units (TCUs) Amedeo Cesta, Alfredo Milani 3 Information Infrastructure and Management Susanne Biundo, Bernd Schattenberg 5 Work packages:

8. 8 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 PLANET (3) Activities: –General network meetings –TCU meetings/workshops (often linked to conferences) –Cross-site visits (between PLANET members) –Information days (for industry) –Summer schools (for students) –Gap-bridging seminars Deliverables: –Software catalogue & repository –Benchmarks & case studies –Newsletters, posters, TCU flyers –Annual reports –P&S curriculum –Exploitation plan All downloadable from http://www.planet-noe.org/

9. 9 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 PLANET (4) Technical Co-ordination Units (TCUs): –Identify areas of current needs & opportunities amongst PLANET members Aerospace Applications Amedeo Cesta Tim Grant Workflow Management Daniel Borrajo Robot Planning Malik Ghallab Knowledge Engineering Lee McCluskey Intelligent Manufacturing Ruth Aylett On-line Planning and Scheduling Gerard Verfaillie Web-based Applications Alfredo Milani

10. 10 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 PLANET (5) TCU road-maps identify: –Current state of P&S technology –Recent developments –Relationships to other fields –Application problems & deficiencies –Technology transfer issues –Directions for potential exploitation –Application-driven improvements –Plans for focussed actions Downloadable from http://www.planet-noe.org/

11. 11 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 Features & benefits (1) PLANET ends August 2003 Now starting Exploitation Plan: –Short term (3 years) –Medium term (6 years) –Long term (10 years) Marketing analysis proposed to aid exploitation: –Stakeholder analysis –Survey of European capabilities & offerings –SWOT analysis –Features & benefits analysis –Marketing plan & marketing materials

12. 12 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 Features & benefits (2) Requirements need Design specification Manufacture design Operations new system Decommission old system Ops prep previous experience SOPs, trained ops PlanningControl plans raw materials products/services current state & past experience O BSERVE O RIENT D ECIDE A CT

13. 13 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 Features & benefits (3) Features & benefits analysis: –Aim: To define product / service in customer’s terms –Feature: What product / service has or is –Benefit: What product / service does for customer –Analysis procedure: Identify customer populations & their needs Decide what product / service is to be sold Identify features that product / service provides Match features to benefits that customers obtain Prove that benefits can be delivered

14. 14 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 Features & benefits (4) AI P&S products & services: –Some possible products: Planning(-domain) knowledge acquisition software Plan-generation software Plan-animation software Plan-evaluation software Plan-execution software Plan-recognition software –Some possible services: Planning software selection, installation & integration Tailoring planning software specific to domain Domain knowledge capture & representation Plan execution, monitoring & control

15. 15 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 Features & benefits (5) Plan-generator can be: –Human: Unaided Supported by non-intelligent software: –Spreadsheet, database, planning package Supported by intelligent software (“mixed-initiative planning”) –Automation: Hardware (invariably non-intelligent, e.g. PLCs) Non-intelligent software (“canned” responses) Intelligent software Comparisons: –Intelligent plan-generation software vs. human –Intelligent plan-generation software vs. hardware –Intelligent vs. non-intelligent plan-generation software Existing methods What AI planning community is working on

16. 16 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 Features & benefits (6) Example features of plan-generator: –Functional: It uses domain knowledge (including domain constraints) It can decompose goals It puts actions into sequences that meet domain constraints It generates sequences from initial to goal state It selects suitable (renewable) resources for actions It can reason at multiple levels of (domain) abstraction It can reason about concurrent action It can handle uncertain information Given same problem, it is guaranteed to produce same plan –Non-functional: It is tireless (24 hours/day, 365 days/year) It is reliable (e.g. 10 -5 availability over one year) It works in real-time; it can generate valid plan by a deadline It integrates to customer’s other IT systems It provides standard (system, user) interfaces

17. 17 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 Features & benefits (7) Possible customer benefits: –Faster: Installed and/or tailored more quickly Generates plan more quickly Updates plan more quickly after change –Better: Plans for more complex domains Generates better-quality plans (less domain-resource usage) Generates plans that have fewer errors Generates plans that are more robust to changes –Cheaper: Lower purchase cost Lower running costs: –Fewer operators needed –Less operator training needed –Less hardware / cheaper hardware

18. 18 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 Features & benefits (8) Real-world proof: –Brian Drabble, University of Oregon/ OnTime Inc.: Submarine construction (Electric Boat): –1.4 million tasks –30% reduction in overtime & subcontracting –Runtime 1 day instead of 6 weeks Aircraft construction (Boeing): –570 tasks, 17 resources –10-15% shorter, saving US$1.2 million per aircraft –Runtime 30 mins (2 orders of magnitude faster) –ARPA Planning Initiative: Logistics build-up to Gulf War, 1991: –Saved more than the cost of all US AI research –Sources: Cross & Walker (1994) & AIPS’96

19. 19 PLANET GBS-2, Delft, 21 Nov 02 GBS-2: speakers Alessandro Donati: –“Space Mission Operations P&S: Past, present, & future” –European Space Operations Centre –http://www.esoc.esa.dehttp://www.esoc.esa.de Henk Hesselink: –“AI Planning: waiting for results?” –Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) –http://www.nlr.nlhttp://www.nlr.nl Frank Oxener: –“Work Force Planning: A logical next step after ERP” –Atos Origin Nederland b.v. –http://www.atosorigin.comhttp://www.atosorigin.com Yossi Rissin & Roman Bartak: –“When Theory Crashed into Reality” –Visopt b.v. –http://www.visopt.comhttp://www.visopt.com