Optiplan: Unifying IP-based and Graph-based Planning

TL;DR

Optiplan is a pioneering planning system that uses integer programming, successfully competing in international planning competitions and demonstrating the potential of IP-based approaches in automated planning.

Contribution

It introduces the first integer programming-based planner, Optiplan, and discusses recent improvements that enhance the competitiveness of IP encodings in planning.

Findings

Optiplan participated successfully in the international planning competition.

Integer programming formulations can be effectively applied to planning problems.

Recent developments have improved the competitiveness of IP-based planning methods.

Abstract

The Optiplan planning system is the first integer programming-based planner that successfully participated in the international planning competition. This engineering note describes the architecture of Optiplan and provides the integer programming formulation that enabled it to perform reasonably well in the competition. We also touch upon some recent developments that make integer programming encodings significantly more competitive.