CABINS: A Framework of Knowledge Acquisition and Iterative Revision for Schedule Improvement and Reactive Repair - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University

CABINS: A Framework of Knowledge Acquisition and Iterative Revision for Schedule Improvement and Reactive Repair

K. Miyashita and Katia Sycara
Journal Article, Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 76, No. 2, pp. 377 - 426, July, 1995

Abstract

Practical scheduling problems generally require allocation of resources in the presence of a large, diverse and typically conflicting set of constraints and optimization criteria. The ill-structuredness of both the solution space and the desired objectives make scheduling problems diffi cult to formalize. This paper describes a case-based learning method for acquiring context-dependent user optimization preferences and tradeo ffs and using them to incrementally improve schedule quality in predictive scheduling and reactive schedule management in response to unexpected execution events. The approach, implemented in the CABINS system, uses acquired user preferences to dynamically modify search control to guide schedule improvement. During iterative repair, cases are exploited for: (1) repair action selection, (2) evaluation of intermediate repair results and (3) recovery from revision failures. The method allows the system to dynamically switch between repair heuristic actions, each of which operates with respect to a particular local view of the problem and off ers selectiverepair advantages. Application of a repair action tunes the search procedure to the characteristics of the local repair problem. This is achieved by dynamic modi cation of the search control bias. There is no a priori characterization of the amount of modi fcation that may be required by repair actions. However, initial experimental results show that the approach is able to (a) capture and eff ectively utilize userscheduling preferences that were not present in the scheduling model, (b) produce schedules with high quality, without unduly sacrifi cingeffi ciency in predictive schedule generation and reactive response to unpredictable execution events along a variety of criteria that have been recognized as important in real operating environments.

BibTeX

@article{Miyashita-1995-13925,
author = {K. Miyashita and Katia Sycara},
title = {CABINS: A Framework of Knowledge Acquisition and Iterative Revision for Schedule Improvement and Reactive Repair},
journal = {Artificial Intelligence},
year = {1995},
month = {July},
volume = {76},
number = {2},
pages = {377 - 426},
}