Intentions in Means-End Planning (Dissertation Proposal)

This proposal discusses the use of the intentions of the actor in performing means-end reasoning. In doing so, it will show that preconditions and applicability conditions in existing systems are ill-defined and intrinsically encode situational information that prevents intentions from playing a role in the planning process. While the former problem can be fixed, the latter cannot. Therefore, I argue that preconditions should be eliminated from action representation. In their place, I suggest explicit representation of intention, situated reasoning about the results of action, and robust failure mechanisms. I then describe a system, the Intentional Planning System (ItPlanS), which embodies these ideas, compare ItPlanS to other systems, and propose future directions for this work.