An introduction to graph-rewriting framework for high-level robotic task planning

This paper introduces graph-rewriting methodology for robotic task planning. An approach to represent a high-level task plan in the form of a graph and modify it to accommodate various planning strategies is proposed. Explicitly delineated graph-rewrite rules and their ordered applications are used to reflect the change in plans by changing the graph topology. A framework for modeling complex manipulation tasks as interconnection of simpler subtasks and events connecting them is presented. Using a simple example, it is demonstrated how various: plans: can dynamically evolve as: a function of events. The advantages of graph-rewriting methodology in task planning, importance of developing a reusable graph-rewrite rule fibrary for manipulation tasks, and its connection to low-level control are also outlined in this introductory paper.