Towards the planning of actions in complex environments

This paper investigates the requirements for planning systems that must plan actions in complex environments. First the general characteristics of planning systems are described which are then compared to the properties of classical planners. It appears that most of these planning systems are not capable of planning actions in non trivial environments. Therefore an alternative approach is proposed where planning is no longer independent of the execution of the plan. Essential to this process is the ability of the system to observe its environment and adapt its behaviour according to sensory data. These characteristics make the system an open system contrary to traditional planners that are characterised by a closed system architecture.