AI & AT

Problems, Problem Spaces, and Search

Lesson 7

There are some things we do much better

than computers, but since most of chess
is tactically based they do many things
better than humans. And this imbalance
remains. I no longer have any issues. It’s
bit like asking an astronomer, does he
mind that a telescope does all the work.
He is used to it. It is just an incredible
tool that you can use.
AI Problem
Solution – Build a System
To build a system we need to do 4 things:

1. Define the problem precisely

◦ Precise specifications of what the initial situation will be
◦ What final situations constitute acceptable solutions to
the problem?
2. Analyze the problem
3. Isolate and represent the task knowledge that is
necessary to solve the problem
4. Choose the best problem-solving technique and
apply it to the particular problem
Defining the Problem as a
State Space Search
Example: To build a program that could
“Play Chess”
We have to specify
◦ the starting position of the chess board
◦ the rules that define the legal moves
◦ the board positions that represent a win
Chess Board
Issues
We have to write a very large number of rules
since there has to be a separate rule for each of
the roughly 10120 possible board positions
 Difficulties:
No person could ever supply a complete set of
such rules
◦ Takes long time
◦ errors
 No program could easily handle all those
rules
Solution
Find a way to write the rules describing
the legal moves in as general a way as
possible
◦ Use convenient notation for describing
patterns and substitutions
State Space
The problem of playing chess is defined
as a problem of moving around in a state
space
Each state corresponds to a legal position
of the board
Playing Chess
Start at an initial state
Use a set of rules to move from one state
to another
End up in one of a set of final states
1. Define a state space that contains all the possible
configurations of the relevant objects
2. Specify one or more states within that space that
describe possible situations from which the
problem solving process may start – initial states
3. Specify one or more states that would be
acceptable as solutions to the problem- goal
states
4. Specify a set of rules that describe the actions
(operators) available
Issues
What unstated assumptions are present in
the informal problem description?
How general should the rules be?
How much of the work required to solve
the problem should be precomputed and
represented in the rules?
The problem can then be solved by using
the rules, in combination with an
appropriate control strategy, to move
through the problem space until a path
from an initial state to a goal state is
found
Process of search is fundamental to the
problem-solving process
Production Systems
Since search forms the core of many
intelligent processes, it is useful to
structure AI programs in a way that
facilitates describing and performing the
search process
Production systems provide such
structures
A Production System
It consists of:
1. A set of rules, each consisting of a left
side(pattern) that determines the
applicability of the rule and a right side
that describes the operation to be
performed if the rule is applied
2. One or more knowledge/databases that
contain whatever information is
appropriate for the particular task
Contd.
3. A control strategy that specifies the order
in which the rules will be compared to the
database and a way or resolving the
conflicts that arise when several rules
match at once
4. A rule applier
Control Strategies
How to decide which rule to apply next
during the process of searching for a
solution to a problem?
Requirement of a good control strategy:
◦ it causes motion
◦ it is systematic