Outline
Informed Search and Exploration for Agents
R&N: 3.5, 3.6
Best-first search Greedy best-first search
A* search
Heuristics Admissibility
Jacques Fleuriot
University of Edinburgh
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Review: Tree search
function TREE-SEARCH(problem) returns a solution, or failure initialize the frontier using the initial state of problem loop do if the frontier is empty then return failure choose a leaf node and remove it from the frontier if the node contains a goal state then return the corresponding solution expand the chosen node, adding the resulting nodes to the frontier
Best-first search
An instance of general TREE-SEARCH or GRAPHSEARCH Idea: use an evaluation function f(n) for each node n
estimate of "desirability"
Expand most desirable unexpanded node, usually the node with the lowest evaluation
Implementation:
A search strategy is defined by picking the order of node expansion from the frontier
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Order the nodes in frontier in decreasing order of desirability
Special cases:
Greedy best-first search A* search
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Romania with step costs in km
Greedy best-first search
Evaluation function f(n) = h(n) (heuristic) h(n) = estimated cost of cheapest path from state at node n to a goal state
e.g., hSLD(n) = straight-line distance from n to Bucharest
Greedy best-first search expands the node that appears to be closest to goal
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Greedy best-first search example
Greedy best-first search example
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Greedy best-first search example
Greedy best-first search example
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Properties of greedy best-first search
Complete? No can get stuck in loops
Graph search version is complete in finite space, but not in infinite ones
A* search
Idea: avoid expanding paths that are already expensive Evaluation function f(n) = g(n) + h(n)
g(n) = cost so far to reach n h(n) = estimated cost from n to goal f(n) = estimated total cost of path through n to goal
Time? O(bm) for tree version, but a good heuristic can give dramatic improvement Space? O(bm) keeps all nodes in memory Optimal? No
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A* is both complete and optimal if h(n) satisfies certain conditions
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A* search example
A* search example
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A* search example
A* search example
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A* search example
A* search example
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Admissible heuristics
A heuristic h(n) is admissible if for every node n, h(n) h*(n), where h*(n) is the true cost to reach the goal state from n. An admissible heuristic never overestimates the cost to reach the goal, i.e., it is optimistic
Thus, f(n) = g(n) + h(n) never overestimates the true cost of a solution
Optimality of A* (proof)
Suppose some suboptimal goal G2 has been generated and is in the frontier. Let n be an unexpanded node in the frontier such that n is on a shortest path to an optimal goal G.
Example: hSLD(n) (never overestimates the actual road distance) Theorem: If h(n) is admissible, A* using TREESEARCH is optimal
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f(G2) = g(G2) g(G2) > g(G) f(G) = g(G) f(G2) > f(G)
since h(G2) = 0 since G2 is suboptimal since h(G) = 0 from above
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Optimality of A* (proof contd.)
Suppose some suboptimal goal G2 has been generated and is in the fringe. Let n be an unexpanded node in the fringe such that n is on a shortest path to an optimal goal G.
Consistent heuristics
A heuristic is consistent if for every node n, every successor n' of n generated by any action a, h(n) c(n, a, n') + h(n') If h is consistent, we have f(n') = g(n') + h(n') = g(n) + c(n, a, n') + h(n') g(n) + h(n) f(n) i.e., f(n) is non-decreasing along any path. Theorem: If h(n) is consistent, A* using GRAPH-SEARCH is optimal
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f(G2) > f(G) from above h(n) h*(n) since h is admissible g(n) + h(n) g(n) + h*(n) f(n) f(G) Hence f(G2) > f(n), and A* will never select G2 for expansion
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Optimality of A*
A* expands nodes in order of increasing f value Gradually adds "f-contours" of nodes Contour i has all nodes with f=fi, where fi < fi+1
Properties of A*
Complete? Yes (unless there are infinitely many nodes with f f(G) Time? Exponential Space? Keeps all nodes in memory
Optimal? Yes
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Admissible heuristics
Example:
for the 8-puzzle:
h1(n) = number of misplaced tiles h2(n) = total Manhattan distance (i.e., no. of squares from desired location of each tile)
Dominance
If h2(n) h1(n) for all n (both admissible) then h2 dominates h1 h2 is better for search Typical search costs (average number of nodes expanded):
d=12 IDS = 3,644,035 nodes A*(h1) = 227 nodes A*(h2) = 73 nodes IDS = too many nodes A*(h1) = 39,135 nodes A*(h2) = 1,641 nodes
Exercise: Calculate these two values. d=24 h1(S) = ? h2(S) = ?
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Relaxed problems
A problem with fewer restrictions on the actions is called a relaxed problem The cost of an optimal solution to a relaxed problem is an admissible heuristic for the original problem If the rules of the 8-puzzle are relaxed so that a tile can move anywhere,
then h1(n) gives the shortest solution
Summary
Smart search based on heuristic scores.
Best-first search Greedy best-first search A* search Admissible heuristics and optimality.
If the rules are relaxed so that a tile can move to any adjacent square,
then h2(n) gives the shortest solution
Can use relaxation to automatically generate admissible heuristics
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