ROPES: a tool for generating robot plans

Abstract

The problem of generating plans to be carried out by robots is considered. A tool called ROPES (robot plan generating system) is proposed. The tool is based on modeling STRIPS-like rules by a special type of Petri nets called predicate/transition nets. Analysis techniques of predicate/transition nets are utilized to generate robot plans. The research results indicate that ROPES provides a domain-independent formalism that blends together the concepts of the state of the world, actions, goals and plans; supports conjunctive and hierarchical planning and nonlinear plans; handles the frame problem in an effective way; and offers facilities for monitoring plan execution and recovery.<>