Behavioral Specification and Planning for Multiagent Domains

Abstract

This report discusses a new approach to the specifications of properties of multiagent environments and the generation of plans for such domains. The ideas presented elaborate previous work on a formal, behavioral model of concurrent action, called GEM (the Group Element Model). By combining the GEM specification formalism with artificial intelligence techniques for planning, we have devised a framework that seems promising in several respects. First, instead of ad hoc planning techniques, we are utilizing a formal concurrency model as a basis for planning. Secondly, the model encourages the description of domain properties in terms of behavioral constraints, rather than using more traditional state predicate approaches. Behavioral descriptions, which emphasize the causal, temporal, and simultaneity relationships among actions, are particularly suited to describing the complex properties of multiagent domains. Finally, we present an initial proposal for a planner based on behavioral forms of representation. Given a set of constraints describing a problem domain, the proposed planner generates plans through a process of incremental constraint satisfaction.