Solving Problems by Searching: Chapter 2-3

SOLVING PROBLEMS BY
SEARCHING
Chapter 2-3
December 21, 201

6
Problem Solving Agents
Lecture Outline
Agents
Problem-solving agents
Problem types
Problem formulation
Example problems
Basic search algorithms
Assignment Description
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Agents
An agent is anything that can be viewed as perceiving its

environment through sensors and acting upon that environment
through actuators
Sensors:
Actuators
legs, mouth, and other body parts for actuators
Robotic agent:
Sensors:
cameras and infrared range finders for sensors;
Actuators
eyes, ears, and other organs for sensors; hands,
various motors for actuators
Human agent:
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Agents and environments
The agent function maps from percept histories

to actions:
[f: P* A]
The agent program runs on the physical
architecture to produce f
agent = architecture + program
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Example:
Vacuum-cleaner
world
Percepts:
location and contents, e.g., [A,Dirty]
Actions:
Left, Right, Suck, NoOp
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Environment types
Fully observable (vs. partially observable): An

agent's sensors give it access to the complete state
of the environment at each point in time.
Deterministic (vs. stochastic): The next state of the
environment is completely determined by the
current state and the action executed by the agent.
(If the environment is deterministic except for the
actions of other agents, then the environment is
strategic)
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Environment types
Static (vs. dynamic): The environment is

unchanged while an agent is deliberating.
Discrete (vs. continuous): A limited number

of distinct, clearly defined percepts and
actions.
Single agent (vs. multiagent): An agent
operating by itself in an environment
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Problem-solving agents
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Example: Romania
On holiday in Romania; currently in Arad.

Flight leaves tomorrow from Bucharest
Formulate goal:
Formulate problem:
be in Bucharest
states: various cities
actions: drive between cities
Find solution:
sequence of cities, e.g., Arad, Sibiu, Fagaras,

Bucharest
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Single-state problem
formulation
A problem is defined by four items:
1.
initial state e.g., "at Arad
2.
actions or successor function

S(x) = set of actionstate pairs
3.
goal test, can be
4.
explicit, e.g., x = "at Bucharest"

implicit, e.g., Checkmate(x)
path cost (additive)
e.g., S(Arad) = {<Arad Zerind, Zerind>, }
e.g., sum of distances, number of actions executed, etc.

c(x,a,y) is the step cost, assumed to be 0
A solution is a sequence of actions leading from the initial state to a goal state
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Selecting a state space
Real world is absurdly complex

state space must be abstracted for problem solving
(Abstract) state = set of real states
For guaranteed realizability, any real state "in Arad

must get to some real state "in Zerind
e.g., "Arad Zerind" represents a complex set of possible

routes, detours, rest stops, etc.
set of real paths that are solutions in the real world
Each abstract action should be "easier" than the original

problem
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(Abstract) solution =
(Abstract) action = complex

combination of real actions
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Vacuum world state space

graph
states?
actions?
goal test?
path cost?
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Vacuum world state space

graph
states? integer dirt and robot location

actions? Left, Right, Suck
goal test? no dirt at all locations
path cost? 1 per action
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Example: The 8-puzzle
states?
actions?
goal test?
path cost?
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Example: The 8-puzzle
states? locations of tiles

actions? move blank left, right, up, down
goal test? = goal state (given)
path cost? 1 per move
[Note: optimal solution of n-Puzzle family is NP-hard]

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Tree search algorithms
Basic idea:
offline, simulated exploration of state space by

generating successors of already-explored states
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Tree search example
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Tree search example
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Tree search example
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Implementation: general tree

search
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Implementation: states vs. nodes
A state is a (representation of) a physical configuration

A node is a data structure constituting part of a search
tree includes state, parent node, action, path cost g(x),
depth
The Expand function creates new nodes, filling in the

various fields and using the SuccessorFn of the
problem to create the corresponding states.
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Search strategies
A search strategy is defined by picking the order of

node expansion
Strategies are evaluated along the following
dimensions:
completeness: does it always find a solution if one exists?

time complexity: number of nodes generated
space complexity: maximum number of nodes in memory
optimality: does it always find a least-cost solution?
Time and space complexity are measured in terms of
b: maximum branching factor of the search tree

d: depth of the least-cost solution
m: maximum depth of the state space (may be )
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Uninformed search
strategies
Uninformed search strategies use only

the information available in the problem
definition
Breadth-first search
Depth-first search
Uniform-cost search
Depth-limited search
Iterative deepening search
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Expand shallowest unexpanded node

Implementation:
fringe is a FIFO queue, i.e., new successors go at end
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Implementation:
fringe is a FIFO queue, i.e., new successors go

at end
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Implementation:
fringe is a FIFO queue, i.e., new successors go at

end
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Implementation:
fringe is a FIFO queue, i.e., new successors go at

end
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Properties of breadth-first
search
Complete? Yes (if b is finite)
b: maximum branching factor of the search tree
Time? 1+b+b2+b3+ +bd + b(bd-1) = O(bd+1)
d: depth of the least-cost solution
Space? O(bd+1) (keeps every node in

memory)
Optimal? Yes (if cost = 1 per step)
Space is the bigger problem (more than time)
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Depth-first search
Expand deepest unexpanded node

Implementation:
fringe = LIFO queue, i.e., put successors at front
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Depth-first search

Implementation:
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Properties of depth-first
search
Complete? No:
Time? O(bm): terrible if m is much larger than d
fails in infinite-depth spaces

spaces with loops
Modify to avoid repeated states along path
but if solutions are dense, may be much faster than
breadth-first
Space? O(bm), i.e., linear space!

Optimal? No
complete in finite spaces
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Depth-limited search
Depth-first search with depth limit L
i.e., nodes at depth L have no successors
Recursive implementation:
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Iterative deepening search l

=0
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=1
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=2
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=3
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Number of nodes generated in a depth-limited search

to depth d with branching factor b:
NDLS = b0 + b1 + b2 + + bd-2 + bd-1 + bd
Number of nodes generated in an iterative deepening
search to depth d with branching factor b:
NIDS = (d+1)b0 + d b^1 + (d-1)b^2 + + 3bd-2 +2bd-1 +
1bd
For b = 10, d = 5,
NDLS = 1 + 10 + 100 + 1,000 + 10,000 + 100,000 = 111,111

NIDS = 6 + 50 + 400 + 3,000 + 20,000 + 100,000 = 123,456
Overhead = (123,456 - 111,111)/111,111 = 11%
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Properties of iterative deepening

search
Complete?
Time?
(d+1)b0 + d b1 + (d-1)b2 + + bd = O(bd)
Space?
Yes
O(bd)
Optimal?
Yes, if step cost = 1
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Uniform-cost search
Expand least-cost unexpanded node
Implementation:
fringe = queue ordered by path cost
Equivalent to breadth-first if step costs all equal
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Uniform-cost search
Complete?
Time?
# of nodes with cost of optimal solution,

O(bceiling(C*/ )) where C* is the cost of the optimal solution
Space?
Yes, if step cost
# of nodes with cost of optimal solution, O(bceiling(C*/ ))
Optimal?
Yes nodes expanded in increasing order of cost
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Summary of algorithms
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Repeated states
Failure to detect repeated states can

turn a linear problem into an
exponential one!
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Graph search
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Summary
Problem formulation usually requires abstracting

away real-world details to define a state space that
can feasibly be explored
Variety of uninformed search strategies
Iterative deepening search uses only linear space

and not much more time than other uninformed
algorithms
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SOLVING PROBLEMS BY

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

An agent is anything that can be viewed as perceiving its

legs, mouth, and other body parts for actuators

cameras and infrared range finders for sensors;

eyes, ears, and other organs for sensors; hands,

various motors for actuators

Problem Solving Agents

Agents and environments

The agent function maps from percept histories

Problem Solving Agents

location and contents, e.g., [A,Dirty]

Left, Right, Suck, NoOp

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

Fully observable (vs. partially observable): An

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

Static (vs. dynamic): The environment is

Discrete (vs. continuous): A limited number

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

On holiday in Romania; currently in Arad.

sequence of cities, e.g., Arad, Sibiu, Fagaras,

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

actions or successor function

goal test, can be

explicit, e.g., x = "at Bucharest"

path cost (additive)

e.g., S(Arad) = {<Arad Zerind, Zerind>, }

e.g., sum of distances, number of actions executed, etc.

Problem Solving Agents

Selecting a state space

Real world is absurdly complex

(Abstract) state = set of real states

For guaranteed realizability, any real state "in Arad

e.g., "Arad Zerind" represents a complex set of possible

set of real paths that are solutions in the real world

Each abstract action should be "easier" than the original

December 21, 201

(Abstract) action = complex

Vacuum world state space

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

Vacuum world state space

states? integer dirt and robot location

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

Example: The 8-puzzle

December 21, 201

Problem Solving Agents

Example: The 8-puzzle

states? locations of tiles

[Note: optimal solution of n-Puzzle family is NP-hard]

Problem Solving Agents

Tree search algorithms

offline, simulated exploration of state space by