Introduction to State Space Search

Artificial Intelligence

CHAPTER 5
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
COURSE OBJECTIVES

Understand the state space representation and gain

familiarity with some common problems formulated as
state space search problems.

The students should be able to formulate it in terms of a

state space search problems.

The students should understand how implicit state spaces

can be unfolded during search.

Understand how states can be represented by features

 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
REVIEW OF INTELLIGENT AGENT
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
A GOAL DIRECT AGENT

A goal direct agent needs to achieve

certain goals.
Many problems can be represented as a
set of states and a set of rules of how one
state is transformed to another.
The agent must choose a sequence of
actions to achieve the desired goal.
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
A GOAL DIRECT AGENT

Each state is an abstract representation

of the agents environment. It is an
abstract that denotes a configuration of
the agent.
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence

Initial state: the description of the starting

configuration of the agent.
An action / operator takes the agent from
one state to another state. A state can
have a number of successor states.
A plan is a sequence of actions.
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence

A goal is a description of a set of

desirable states of the world. Goal states
are often specified by a goal test which
any goal state must satisfy.
Path cost: path positive number
Usually path cost = sum of step
costs
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence

Problem formulation means choosing a

relevant set of states to consider, and a
feasible set of operators for moving from
one state to another.
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence

Search is the process of imagining

sequences of operators applied to the
initial state and checking which sequence
reaches a goal state.
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence

S: the full set of states.

So: the initial state
A:S S set of operators
G: the set of final states.
Search problem: find a
sequence of actions
which transforms the
agent from the initial
state to a goal state
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
SEARCH PROBLEM

The search problem consists of finding a

solution plan, which is a path from the
current state to the goal state.
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
SEARCH PROBLEM

Representing search problems.

A search problem is represented using a
directed graph.
• The states are represented as nodes.
• The allowed actions are represented as arcs
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
SEARCHING PROCESS

Check the current state

Execute allowable actions to move to the
next state.
Check if the new state is a solution state.
If it is not, the new state becomes the current
state and the process is repeated until a
solution is found or the state space is
exhausted.
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
PEGS AND DISKS

Consider the following

problem. We have 3 pegs
and 3 disks.
Operators: one may
move the topmost disks
on any needle to the
topmost position to any
other needle.
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
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Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
STATE SPACE

FINISH
 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Class Work: the 8-Puzzle

Map by configuring the start state of the

8 puzzle into the given goal configuration

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 Introduction to Solution
Artificial Intelligence

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
8 Puzzle - Magic squares
Put the numbers 1,2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 into a
3 x 3 square to make a magic square. In this
3x3 magic square, the numbers in each
vertical row must add up to 15.

The numbers in each horizontal row must

add up to 15. The diagonals also add up to
15.15 is called the magic number.
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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
8 Puzzle - Magic squares

Solution

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and cannibals
Three missionaries and three cannibals are on the left
bank of a river.

There is one canoe which can hold one or two people.

Find a way to get everyone to the right bank, without

ever leaving a group of missionaries in one place
outnumbered by cannibals in that place.

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
A missionary and cannibal cross

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
One missionary returns

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
Two cannibals cross

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
A cannibal returns

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
Two missionaries cross

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
A missionary and cannibal return

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
Two Missionaries cross

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
A cannibal returns

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
Two cannibals cross

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
A cannibal returns

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals
The last two cannibals cross

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Artificial Intelligence
Missionaries and Cannibals

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 Class Work:
Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
4 Missionaries and 4 Cannibals

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence
Class Work
A man is headed to a mountain along with a lion, a goat, and a basket of

vegetables. On the way, he needs to cross a river and the boat can only carry

two things at a time. If he takes the vegetables, the lion will eat the goat. If he

takes the lion, the goat will eat the vegetables. How does he cross the river?

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 Introduction to

Artificial Intelligence