Ngoc La

Pulkit Verma, Ngoc La, Anthony Favier et al.

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated impressive capabilities across diverse tasks, yet their ability to perform structured symbolic planning remains limited, particularly in domains requiring formal representations like the Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL). In this paper, we present a novel instruction tuning framework, PDDL-Instruct, designed to enhance LLMs' symbolic planning capabilities through logical chain-of-thought reasoning. Our approach focuses on teaching models to rigorously reason about action applicability, state transitions, and plan validity using explicit logical inference steps. By developing instruction prompts that guide models through the precise logical reasoning required to determine when actions can be applied in a given state, we enable LLMs to self-correct their planning processes through structured reflection. The framework systematically builds verification skills by decomposing the planning process into explicit reasoning chains about precondition satisfaction, effect application, and invariant preservation. Experimental results on multiple planning domains show that our chain-of-thought reasoning based instruction-tuned models are significantly better at planning, achieving planning accuracy of up to 94% on standard benchmarks, representing a 66% absolute improvement over baseline models. This work bridges the gap between the general reasoning capabilities of LLMs and the logical precision required for automated planning, offering a promising direction for developing better AI planning systems.

Ngoc La, Ruaridh Mon-Williams, Julie A. Shah

In recent years, reinforcement learning (RL) methods have been widely tested using tools like OpenAI Gym, though many tasks in these environments could also benefit from hierarchical planning. However, there is a lack of a tool that enables seamless integration of hierarchical planning with RL. Hierarchical Domain Definition Language (HDDL), used in classical planning, introduces a structured approach well-suited for model-based RL to address this gap. To bridge this integration, we introduce HDDLGym, a Python-based tool that automatically generates OpenAI Gym environments from HDDL domains and problems. HDDLGym serves as a link between RL and hierarchical planning, supporting multi-agent scenarios and enabling collaborative planning among agents. This paper provides an overview of HDDLGym's design and implementation, highlighting the challenges and design choices involved in integrating HDDL with the Gym interface, and applying RL policies to support hierarchical planning. We also provide detailed instructions and demonstrations for using the HDDLGym framework, including how to work with existing HDDL domains and problems from International Planning Competitions, exemplified by the Transport domain. Additionally, we offer guidance on creating new HDDL domains for multi-agent scenarios and demonstrate the practical use of HDDLGym in the Overcooked domain. By leveraging the advantages of HDDL and Gym, HDDLGym aims to be a valuable tool for studying RL in hierarchical planning, particularly in multi-agent contexts.