Goals, Actions, and States

• A relatively simple but useful concept is the goal.
• In a maze, the goal may be to get to the other side.
• When packing your shopping, the goal may be to have your groceries in a reasonable number of bags.
• As ever, the domain can be represented by States.
• In the maze, the state is the location; and in shopping it may be the location of your groceries, or it may be to have it in the minimum number of bags.
• Actions change the state.
• Moving, changes the location in the maze.
• Putting your milk in a bag will change the State.
• Note that all actions may not be available.
• You can use preconditions. So, you can't put milk in a bag that is too full, or you can't put milk on top of something that isn't already in the bag.