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A novel HTN planning approach for handling disruption during plan execution

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Abstract

In this paper, we focus on how to handle disruptions during plan execution. Disruption are common in realistic plan execution, and the replanning is needed when the original plan is failed. Aiming to reduce the number of unnecessary replanning in this situation, a novel heuristic HTN (Hierarchical Task Network) planning approach is proposed. The approach includes two components: F-HTN and Controller. F-HTN is a heuristic temporal HTN planner. F-HTN uses STNs (Simple Temporal Networks) to express the complex temporal constraints in planning, and an STN-based heuristic search is designed to guide the search direction in F-HTN. When the planner F-HTN is terminated, it will generate a flexible plan which includes a complete plan and an STN associated with it. Then, Controller checks and adjusts the flexible plan when a disruption occurs during the plan execution. Integrating the plan generation and plan execution, this approach will reduce the number of unnecessary replanning. In the experimental study, we demonstrate the effectiveness and practicability of this approach through some emergency logistics problems.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Yan Chen for checking grammatical errors and typos. This work is supported by National Science Foundation of China Grant No. 71371079 and 71390524, and National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars Grant No. 71125001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Management and Statistics, Hubei University of Economics, Wuhan, 430205, China

    Li Minglei

  2. School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Wang Hongwei & Qi Chao

  3. Department of System Science and Engineering, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Li Minglei, Wang Hongwei & Qi Chao

  4. MOE Key Laboratory of Image Processing and Intelligent Control, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Wang Hongwei & Qi Chao

Authors
  1. Li Minglei
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  2. Wang Hongwei
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  3. Qi Chao
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Correspondence to Wang Hongwei.

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Minglei, L., Hongwei, W. & Chao, Q. A novel HTN planning approach for handling disruption during plan execution. Appl Intell 46, 800–809 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10489-016-0865-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10489-016-0865-0

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