Model-Based Diagnosis of Planning Failures

Abstract

We propose that a planner should be provided with an explicit model of its own planning mechanism, and show that linking a planner's expectations about the performance of its plans to such a model, by means of explicit justification structures, enables the planner to determine which aspects of its planning are responsible for observed performance failures. We have implemented the ideas presented in this paper in a computer model. Applied to the game of chess, the model is capable of diagnosing planning failures due to incomplete knowledge of the rules, improper or overly optimistic focus of attention, faulty projection, and insufficient lead time for warning about threats, and is therefore able to learn such concepts as discovered attack and the fork.