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This week's topic is Graphplan and Advanced Heuristics. You will hear from a winner of a number of the AI International Planning Competitions about one of the hottest topics in AI planning during the last decade and see some of the fastest AI planners available today.

This Week's Feature

Heuristic Search Planning
Prof. Dr. Jörg Hoffmann, Foundations of Artificial Intelligence Group, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

• Hear about some of the fastest AI planners available today, from a winner of a number of the AI International Planning Competitions.
• Heuristic search has been one of the hottest topics in AI planning during the last decade. A central research question in this area, and the central question tackled in the feature, is: How to estimate goal distance given a high-level STRIPS problem? - This connects directly to Nils Nilsson's week 2 feature, which raised precisely this question.
• More detail on Jörg Hoffmann's feature and follow up references are available here.

The weekly "Feature" videos are required viewing for the Awareness Level of the course.

This Week's Additional Stuff

For Creative Challenge - Example

• AI Planning in Medicine
• Dr. Arturo Gonzalez-Ferrer
• Postdoc Lecturer in the Planning & Learning (PLG) group, University Carlos III (Madrid), Spain
• Material prepared in 2013 during the MobiGuide Project

For Week 4 Lectures

• 4.1 to 4.7 Slides (PDF), (PPT)
• 4.8 to 4.10 Slides (PDF), (PPT)
• Partial Planning Graph for the simplified DWR example problem
• Compilation of inline quizzes for offline use.
• Answers to inline quizzes for offline use (spoiler).

For Programming Assignment 2: The Planning Graph

• DWR Modified Planning Domain PDDL
• DWR Modified Planning Problem PDDL

Awareness Level

For those wanting to follow the Awareness Level of the course you should watch the nominated video lectures marked with ♦ this week, plus the "feature" video. You can watch them at any time during the whole course, and need not view them all at once this week. Optionally watch other videos that may interest you.

Performance Level

The course optionally provides programming, practical and creative assignments which can build up to count towards the Performance Level award. The final programming assignment on the course is now available:

• Programming Assignment 2
• Programming Assignment 1 and the Creative Challenge are also still open

More details of the Performance Level award is accessible through the link to "Assignments and Exams".