Hierarchical Path Search

Abstract

Search is an important problem-solving paradigm. Many real world problems can be modeled and transformed to searching problems. Searching for chains of elements that connect places, concepts, reasonings, etc., appears in different areas of research: in AI, finding sequences of simple actions enable to solve complex tasks; in robotics, geometric paths are calculated to move mechanical elements in space under kinematic and dynamic constraints (manipulators, mobile platforms, cooperating robots,...); one of the main issues in networks is to find optimal routes to guide information packages efficiently; etc. These and many other examples highlight the importance of path search in any computational representation of knowledge.