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The Planner/Reasoner

This module generates temporal plans for accomplishing tasks given by the user. Homer's planning takes into account the time required for execution. When given a task to be accomplished at a specified time, Homer produces a plan to be carried out at the latest possible time allowed to fulfill the goal by the specified time. Completed plans are stored in the dynamic plan.

Replanning

The planner engages in replanning whenever new information about the world invalidates the current plan or accomodation of other goals precludes execution of the plan as is. Replanning is also opportunistic. Homer modifies plans if conditions allow implementaion of a better plan.

Answering Questions

In addition to planning the agent's actions, the planner attempts to find answers to questions that the user asks. When answering questions, the planner operates in inference mode. In inference mode, the planner does not consider real actions. The planning consists of drawing the necessary inferences to arrive at the answer to a question. An answer is stored as a plan. Instead of being executed by the plan interpreter, this plan is translated by the text interpreter then output as text.