Versatile Cost Partitioning with Exact Sensitivity Analysis

Paul Höft, David Speck, Florian Pommerening, Jendrik Seipp

Keywords: classical planning, heuristic search, linear programming, cost partitioning

Abstract: Saturated post-hoc optimization is a powerful method for computing admissible heuristics for optimal classical planning. The approach solves a linear program (LP) for each state encountered during the search, which is computationally demanding. In this paper, we theoretically and empirically analyze to which extent we can reuse an LP solution of one state for another. We introduce a novel sensitivity analysis that can exactly characterize the set of states for which a unique LP solution is optimal. Furthermore, we identify two properties of the underlying LPs that affect reusability. Finally, we introduce an algorithm that optimizes LP solutions to generalize well to other states. Our new algorithms significantly reduce the number of necessary LP computations.

Category: Short

Student: Graduate

Submission Number: 243