Research Projects at the ANU

At the ANU, students need to complete a range of different research projects, each worth 6, 12, or 24 points, depending on the degree. 6 pts are equivalent to one standard course, which corresponds to 130 hours of work on average (Point 16 Procedure 691). 24 pts is what's expected per semester in total, so if one takes an Honours thesis (24 pts) over two semesters, two other courses should be taken per semester on top of that.

This page first lists the projects I've supervised until the end (i.e., those where students decided to terminate the project earlier are not included), and those for which I acted as examiner.

Supervised Projects

  • 2024:
    • S1-S2 24 pt Honours: Solving FOND HTN Problems with Fixed-Method Policies (Co-Supervisor, i.e., both are primary)
    • S1-S2 24 pt Honours: Classical Planning Model Corrections (Primary Supervisor)
    • S1-S2 12 pt: Pathfinding System with Geometric Methods (JGAI) (Co-Supervisor, i.e., both are primary)
    • S1-S2 12 pt: Towards Predictive and Adaptive AI Systems: Enhancing Action Outcome Forecasting Through Experiential Learning (Secondary supervisor)
    • S1-S2 12 pt TechLauncher: Reimplement, Extend, and Publish LaTeX tikz library for "drawing" (coding) AI plans (Sole Supervisor)
    • S1, 6 pt ASC: Efficient Computation of Inferred Preconditions and Effects in HTN Planning (Sole Supervisor)
    • S1, finishing 12 pt project from 2023 S2, see below (Sole supervisor)
  • 2023:
    • S2-S1 2024, 12 pt: POCL Heuristics (Sole supervisor)
    • S1-S2, 24 pt Honours: An HTN Portfolio Planner (Primary supervisor)
    • S1, 6 pt: Modeling the Rush Hour Game with AI Planning (Sole supervisor)
    • S1, 4 pt: Typical Modeling Errors in AI Planning (Sole supervisor)
    • three summer projects finishing from 2022 S2, see below (Sole supervisor twice, primary supervisor once)
  • 2022:
    • Summer, 6 pt ASC: Classical Model Repair via Integer Linear Programming (ILP) (Primary supervisor)
    • Summer Internship: Heuristics for Special Cases in HTN Planning (Sole supervisor)
    • Summer Internship: Complexity Results for HTN Planning with Time (Sole supervisor)
    • S2, 6 pt: A Total-Order HTN Heuristic based on Integer Linear Programming (ILP) (Primary supervisor)
    • S1-S2, 24 pt Honours: Transforming Partially Ordered HTN Planning Problems to Totally Ordered Problems (Primary supervisor)
    • S1-S2, 12 pt: Modeling a Puzzle Game using Planning and a Constraint Solver (Co-supervisor, i.e., both are primary)
    • S1, 12 pt: Solving the Waiter's Tray Problem via HTN Planning (Sole supervisor)
    • S1, finishing Honours from 2021 S2, see below
    • Summer, finishing from 2021 S2, see below
  • 2021:
    • Summer, 6 pt ASC: Using Planning to Model Multi-Agent Path Finding Problems (Sole supervisor)
    • S2-S1 2022, 24 pt Honours: On dead-end recognition in Sokoban and Planning (Co-supervisor, i.e., both are primary)
    • S2, 12 pt: Hierarchical Planner Selection using Machine Learning (Primary supervisor)
    • S1-S2, 24 pt Honours: Integrating SAT Solvers into Heuristic Search (Secondary supervisor)
    • S1, 6 pt ASC: On the Complexity of HTN Repair, Recognition, and Length-Bounded Plans (Sole supervisor)
    • S1, 12 pt: Solving the Waiter's Tray Puzzle Using Classical Planning (Co-supervisor, i.e., both are primary)
  • 2020,
    • Summer Internship: Complexity Results for Flexible Fully Observable Non-Deterministic (FOND) HTN Planning (Sole supervisor), published at ICAPS'22, won the ICAPS Best Undergraduate Student Paper Award 2022
    • S2, 6 pt: Complexity Results for Fully Observable Non-Deterministic (FOND) HTN Planning (Sole supervisor), published at ICAPS'21, won the ICAPS Best Undergraduate Student Paper Award 2021
    • S2, 6 pt: Solving Minesweeper using Classical Planning with Global State constraints (Secondary supervisor)
    • S2, 12 pt: Solving Puzzle Games Using Constraint Solvers (Co-supervisor, i.e., both are primary)
    • S1-S2, 24 pt Honours: On the Generation of User-Friendly Plan Linearizations (Primary supervisor)

Examined Projects

In a very few of the projects listed above I also acted as an examiner (not listed below). Below I list those projects that I examined despite not acting as a supervisor.

  • Several more from 2022 and newer; I never found the time to update this list...
  • In S2 of 2021, I served as examiner of the following research projects:
    • 24 pt, in the context of heuristic planning for multiple objectives (started in S1)
    • 12 pt, in the context of planning and acting taking moral actions
  • In S2 of 2020, I served as examiner of two research projects
    • 12 pt, in the context of SAT solving and protocol verification
    • 24 pt Honours, in the context of planning under uncertainty