SEARCH METHODS IN AI

AUTOMATED PROBLEM SOLVING

Partha P Chakrabarti
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
 COMPLEX PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

Path Finding Chess Playing Robot Assembly

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 COMPLEX PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

VLSI Chip Design Symbolic Integration

Time-Table Scheduling

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 AUTOMATED PROBLEM SOLVING BY SEARCH
• Generalized Techniques for Solving Large Classes of Complex Problems
• Problem Statement is the Input and solution is the Output, sometimes even the
problem specific algorithm or method could be the Output
• Problem Formulation by AI Search Methods consists of the following key concepts
– Configuration or State
– Constraints or Definitions of Valid Configurations
– Rules for Change of State and their Outcomes
– Initial or Start Configurations
– Goal Satisfying Configurations
– An Implicit State or Configuration Space
– Valid Solutions from Start to Goal in the State Space
– General Algorithms which SEARCH for Solutions in this State Space
• ISSUES
– Size of the Implicit Space, Capturing Domain Knowledge, Intelligent Algorithms that
work in reasonable time and Memory, Handling Incompleteness and Uncertainty
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 TOWER OF HANOI
• Configuration or State
• Constraints or Definitions
of Valid Configurations
• Rules for Change of State
and their Outcomes
• Initial or Start
Configurations
• Goal Satisfying
Configurations
• An Implicit State or
Configuration Space
• Valid Solutions from Start
to Goal in the State Space
• General Algorithms which
SEARCH for Solutions in
this State Space
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 TWO JUG PROBLEM
• There is a large bucket B full of water and Two (02) jugs, J1 of volume 3 litre and J2 of
volume 5 litre. You are allowed to fill up any empty jug from the bucket, pour all water back
to the bucket from a jug or pour from one jug to another. The goal is to have jug J1 with
exactly one (01) litre of water
• State Definition: <J1, J2>
• Rules:
– Fill (J1): <J1, J2> to <3,J2>
– Fill (J2): <J1, J2> to <J1, 5>
– Empty (J1), Empty (J2): Similarly defined
– Pour (J1, J2): <J1, J2> to <X,Y>, where
• X = 0 and Y = J1 + J2 if J1+J2 ≤ 5,
• Y = 5 and X = (J1+ J2) – 5, if J1+J2 > 5
– Pour (J2, J1): Similarly defined
• Start: <0,0>, Goal: <1,0>
• Part of State Space Shown on the right
(Not all Links shown here)

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 TWO JUG PROBLEM
• There is a large bucket B full of water and Two (02) jugs, J1 of volume 3 litre and J2 of
volume 5 litre. You are allowed to fill up any empty jug from the bucket, pour all water back
to the bucket from a jug or pour from one jug to another. The goal is to have jug J1 with
exactly one (01) litre of water
• State Definition: <J1, J2> <0,0>
• Rules: <0,5>
– Fill (J1): <J1, J2> to <3,J2> <3,0> <3,5>
– Fill (J2): <J1, J2> to <J1, 5>
– Empty (J1), Empty (J2): Similarly defined <3,2>
<0,3>
– Pour (J1, J2): <J1, J2> to <X,Y>, where <2,0>
• X = 0 and Y = J1 + J2 if J1+J2 ≤ 5,
• Y = 5 and X = (J1+ J2) – 5, if J1+J2 > 5 <3,3> <0,2>
<2,5>
– Pour (J2, J1): Similarly defined
<3,4> <0,4>
• Start: <0,0>, Goal: <1,0> <1,5>
• Part of State Space Shown on the right
(Not all Links shown here)
<1,0> <0,1> <3,1>

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 PART OF STATE SPACE
<0,0>
<0,5>
<3,0> <3,5>
<3,2>
<0,3>
<2,0>

<3,3> <0,2>
<2,5>
<3,4> <0,4>
<1,5>

<1,0> <0,1> <3,1>

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 STATE SPACES

R-Cube
Queens
Game

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3 DISK, 3 PEG TOWER of HANOI STATE SPACE

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 STATE SPACES

Manipulator Arm

Planning

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AND / OR STATE SPACES

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CONSISTENT LABELLING BY CONSTRAINT SATISFACTION

Cryptarithmetic

Scene Analysis
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CONSISTENT LABELLING BY CONSTRAINT SATISFACTION

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 STATES, SPACES, SOLUTIONS, SEARCH
• States
– Full / Perfect Information and Partial Information States
• State Transformation Rules
– Deterministic Outcomes
– Non-Deterministic / Probabilistic Outcomes
• State Spaces As Generalized Games
– Single Player: OR Graphs
– Multi-Player: And / Or, Adversarial, Probabilistic Graphs
• Solutions
– Paths
– Sub-graphs
– Expected Outcomes
• Costs
• Sizes
• Domain Knowledge
• Algorithms for Heuristic Search
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 STATES, SPACES, SOLUTIONS, SEARCH
Control Plant
• States
– Full / Perfect Information and Partial Information States
• State Transformation Rules
– Deterministic Outcomes
– Non-Deterministic / Probabilistic Outcomes
• State Spaces As Generalized Games
– Single Player: OR Graphs
– Multi-Player: And / Or, Adversarial, Probabilistic Graphs
• Solutions
– Paths
– Sub-graphs
– Expected Outcomes
• Costs
• Sizes
• Domain Knowledge
• Algorithms for Heuristic Search
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 STATES, SPACES, SOLUTIONS, SEARCH
• States
– Full / Perfect Information and Partial Information States
• State Transformation Rules
– Deterministic Outcomes
– Non-Deterministic / Probabilistic Outcomes
• State Spaces As Generalized Games
– Single Player: OR Graphs
– Multi-Player: And / Or, Adversarial, Probabilistic Graphs
• Solutions
– Paths
– Sub-graphs
– Expected Outcomes
• Costs
• Sizes
• Domain Knowledge
• Algorithms for Heuristic Search
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 STATES, SPACES, SOLUTIONS, SEARCH
• States
– Full / Perfect Information and Partial Information States
• State Transformation Rules
– Deterministic Outcomes
– Non-Deterministic / Probabilistic Outcomes
• State Spaces As Generalized Games
– Single Player: OR Graphs
– Multi-Player: And / Or, Adversarial, Probabilistic Graphs
• Solutions
– Paths
– Sub-graphs
– Expected Outcomes
• Costs
• Sizes
• Domain Knowledge
• Algorithms for Heuristic Search
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Thank you