Integrating AI Planning Semantics into SysML System Models for Automated PDDL File Generation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a SysML profile that embeds PDDL planning semantics into system models, enabling automated generation of planning descriptions and integration with AI planning tools in engineering design.

Contribution

It develops a SysML profile with stereotypes and constraints for PDDL concepts, facilitating seamless integration of planning semantics into system models.

Findings

Successfully models a robotic system with interchangeable end effectors.

Automates generation of PDDL domain and problem files from SysML models.

Enables use of PDDL solvers for optimized planning in engineering applications.

Abstract

This paper presents a SysML profile that enables the direct integration of planning semantics based on the Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL) into system models. Reusable stereotypes are defined for key PDDL concepts such as types, predicates, functions and actions, while formal OCL constraints ensure syntactic consistency. The profile was derived from the Backus-Naur Form (BNF) definition of PDDL 3.1 to align with SysML modeling practices. A case study from aircraft manufacturing demonstrates the application of the profile: a robotic system with interchangeable end effectors is modeled and enriched to generate both domain and problem descriptions in PDDL format. These are used as input to a PDDL solver to derive optimized execution plans. The approach supports automated and model-based generation of planning descriptions and provides a reusable bridge between system modeling and AI planning in engineering design.