"Model and Run" Constraint Networks with a MILP Engine
This work addresses the barrier to broader CP adoption by making modeling more accessible, though it is incremental as it builds on existing MILP techniques.
The paper tackles the problem of high expertise required for Constraint Programming (CP) modeling by introducing MICE, a Java CP modeler that uses MILP solvers, resulting in a tool that simplifies CP-style modeling with reasonable solving capabilities.
Constraint Programming (CP) users need significant expertise in order to model their problems appropriately, notably to select propagators and search strategies. This puts the brakes on a broader uptake of CP. In this paper, we introduce MICE, a complete Java CP modeler that can use any Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) solver as a solution technique. Our aim is to provide an alternative tool for democratizing the "CP-style" modeling thanks to its simplicity of use, with reasonable solving capabilities. Our contributions include new decompositions of (reified) constraints and constraints on numerical variables.