Dynamic Epistemic Logic and Epistemic Planning

half day tutorial at KR 2020
Rhodes, 12-18 Sep. 2020
Lecturer: Andreas Herzig

Description

The generation of plans for multiple agents goes beyond classical planning in that it typically involves reasoning about the agents' knowledge, including higher-order knowledge (such as knowledge about other agents' knowledge). This requires a reexamination of the relevant concepts and models. While the concepts of initial situation and goal can be adequately described in epistemic logic, the concept of an action description calls for a combination of epistemic logic and a logic of action. Dynamic epistemic logic provides a powerful framework for such a combination. It however also comes with some conceptual and computational difficulties. I finally argue for a simple epistemic logic that is grounded in what the agents observe.

Outline

  1. The classical concepts: goals, plans, actions
  2. The classical action languages: STRIPS, Situation Calculus, A, B, C, PDDL
  3. What is epistemic planning?
  4. A benchmark proposal: gossip problems
  5. Epistemic logic
  6. Dynamic epistemic logic DEL
  7. Action descriptions and plans in DEL
  8. Planning in DEL
  9. Conclusion
Target audience and prerequisite knowledge: Any KR attendee should be able to follow the tutorial.

Course material (last update Sept. 3, 2020):