Practical Planning with Ontologies

• Applicant: Dr.-Ing. Stefan Borgwardt
• Subject Area: Theoretical Computer Science ; Image and Language Processing, Computer Graphics and Visualisation, Human Computer Interaction, Ubiquitous and Wearable Computing
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 540204715

This project lies in the intersection of two research areas from the field of symbolic AI, namely AI Planning (AIP) and Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR), in particular reasoning with ontology languages. AIP deals with sequential decisions about actions to steer a system towards a desired goal state, while ontologies can describe expressive static constraints on the system's operation. The integration of procedural planning algorithms with reasoning over static knowledge repositories bears a great potential for synergies based on existing data and models, such as business process definitions, knowledge graphs, traditional databases, and operational planning/scheduling models. In this project, we build on the rich foundations of research in both areas to develop practical methods for solving planning problems enriched with background knowledge. On the one hand, we will analyse the relative expressivity of different combined planning and reasoning formalisms and develop compilations into classical formalisms where possible. On the other hand, we will develop these compilations and more dedicated algorithms into practical methods for planning with ontologies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Partner Organisation: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Gabriele Röger