A planning problem is time-dependent, if the time spent planning affects the utility of the system's performance. In [Dean and Boddy, 1988], we define a framework for constructing solutions to time-dependent planning problems, called expectation-driven iterative refinement. In this paper, we analyze and solve a moderately complex time-dependent planning problem involving path planning for a mobile robot, as a way of exploring a methodology for applying expectation-driven iterative refinement. The fact that we construct a solution to the proposed problem without appealing to luck or extraordinary inspiration provides evidence that expectation-driven iterative refinement is an appropriate framework for solving time-dependent planning problems.
Mark S. Boddy, Thomas Dean